The Federal Government of Nigeria is making plans to initiate subsidy on fertilizer to farmers in the country through a programme financed by the African Development Bank and International Fund for Agricultural Development.
According to The PUNCH, this information was disclosed in the IMF’s Selected Issues paper on Nigeria, prepared by fund’s team as a consultation document.
IMF, however stated that the information was based on the available data at the time of the report completion on January 12, 2023.
It was reported that the Government introduced an initiative which was in form of an e-voucher for farmers to get subsidy on fertilizer. This impacted about 12-14 million farmers from 2011 to 2015.
Owing to the Government’s declining revenue in 2015, it was noted that the programme was dropped.
The report read, “Input subsidies were also successfully introduced in Nigeria and are looking to be reintroduced. The e-voucher subsidy scheme was developed during 2011-15 and provided electronic vouchers to farmers to obtain subsidised NPK or urea fertilizer and improved seeds from private sector input retailers.
“Internal estimates suggest that between 12-14 million farmers received e-vouchers in total, but the initiative was withdrawn in 2015 as macroeconomic conditions worsened and government revenues declined associated with the dramatic fall in oil prices.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government is considering revitalising this subsidy for farmers to afford fertilizer at an affordable rate with the support of two funding organisations.
“However, a new program based around agricultural special processing zones financed by the African Development Bank and International Fund for Agricultural Development is reintroducing them.”
