By Gilbert Ekugbe
The Nigerian Agro Input Dealers Association (NAIDA), has frowned against the decision of local fertiliser companies to export urea to other countries at the expense of satisfying Nigeria’s domestic market.
They also urged the fertiliser companies to sell at least 35 per cent of urea in Nigeria to contribute their quota to reducing the high cost of food production and the skyrocketing prices of food commodities in the country.
The National President of the NAIDA, Mr. Kabiru Fara, made the call during an interview with newsmen and alleged that all the urea fertilisers produced by Dangote, Notore, and Indorama are being exported, leading to the increment in its price from N5,500 to N18,000 per bag.
He said: “We have challenges, the urea companies in Nigeria, Notore, Dangote, and Indorama are mostly exporting their products instead of satisfying the Nigerian market because the export gives them foreign exchange and at a higher price, not minding that these companies are based in Nigeria and no raw material is imported for production.
“The raw materials are sourced from Nigeria, so they should not be looking at the cost in the international market, but even at that, why can’t they release products in Nigeria.”
According to him, a meeting was held between the agro-dealers and fertiliser companies at the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) where they were asked to allocate 35 per cent of their production to the Nigerian market and agreed on an affordable price for fertliser.
He said, “Two weeks ago, we did an open letter to the President, intimating him on what the challenges are, and we were called for a meeting at the NSA office with all the urea companies in Nigeria.
“In the meeting, they were told to allocate at least 35 per cent of their production to the Nigerian market, and they should come up with an affordable price for the Nigerian market, we are expected to hold another meeting with them soon.
“If farm inputs become costly, then food will be expensive, if this happens, it means not everyone can afford food in the country, then insecurity will increase. We hope that urea companies in Nigeria will start releasing their products to the Nigerian market.”
Furthermore, Fara urged the federal government to re-introduce the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme that would enable farmers to access subsidised farm inputs to increase production.
“Without the GES, farmers cannot have access to subsidised farm inputs because the price of urea fertiliser has gone high, also the NPK fertiliser, a bag of urea in the Nigerian market is as high as N18,000, but two years ago it was sold N5,500 to farmers.
“The importance of GES is that even if enough farmers are not on the list, the subsidised input will find its way to the market and the price will also be cheaper than the company’s price,” he added.
Meanwhile, GES, a brainchild of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA), was designed to enhance agricultural productivity through timely, efficient, and effective delivery of yield increasing farm inputs and to provide farmers with subsidised fertiliser and free improved seeds.
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