Government and for that matter the Ministry of Food and Agricultural, MoFA, have been urged to fast track the release of fertilizer coupons for farmers for them to purchase fertilizers on time for their farming activities.
The Chairman of the Northern Region Farmers Association, Mohammed Adam Nashiru, who made these remarks, said the raining season is fast running out and therefore if farmers cannot access fertilizers to apply to their farms, there will be poor yields and food security will be at risk.
Speaking at a stakeholders meeting organized by Zocoffarms Cooperative, an NGO, in Tamale, Mr. Nashiru, impressed on government to look at the issue critically since it has the tendency to defeat the purpose for which the Planting for Food and Jobs initiative was designed.
His call comes at a time when most farmer groups and organizations are raising concern about the challenges in accessing coupons to purchase fertilizers for their farming activities.
He blamed the unfortunate situation on failure of the Regional and District Technical Committees of the Planting for Food and Jobs program for not living up to expectation.
He said the Northern region is an agrarian region and as such duty bearers should ensure farmers are given all the needed support to enable them to boost food production in their respective areas.
He said accessing coupons and fertilizers are in itself a challenge to some famers and farmer groups and therefore advised them to form a unified group to facilitate the process.
Mr. Nashiru also advised MoFA officials to allow farmers access both coupons and fertilizers from agric extension officers in their respective districts to avoid any back and forth situation which mostly discourages them.
The Director of Zocoffarms, Musah Muta-wakilu, said about seventy percent of its members do not get the full benefit of the fertilizer subsidy program during the farming season for the past years.
He said the coupons are in limited supply and the very few who get the coupons receive them very late and are unable to apply the fertilizer on time to get the full effect on crops.
He stressed that this defeats essence of the Fertilizer Subsidy Program, reduces yield levels, affect productivity and incomes of farmers as well as a threat to national food security.
Mr. Munta-wakilu said for this reason, his outfit is implementing an advocacy action for its members to get access to the fertilizer subsidy coupons.
The advocacy sponsored by the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge Fund (BUSAC Fund) and its partners will discuss with relevant stakeholders and duty bearers on how best members of Zocoffarms can have access to the fertilizer subsidy.
At the end of the meeting stakeholders suggested that famer groups and organizations should apply for the coupons directly to the Planting for Food and Job secretariat to guarantee access to their quota timely and in right quantity.
While Stakeholders called for a unifying force among groups to push forward their demands, they also pleaded with government officials to desist from influencing the distribution of the coupons.
Story filed by Joyce Kantam Kolamomg
