In an effort to boost food production, Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya on Tuesday announced a subsidy on fertilizers for farmers in Gombe State, especially those who engage in subsistence farming.
It was gathered that the new subsidized price is against the initial price of N19000 in order to alleviate the biting effects of the removal of fuel subsidy and its consequential economic impact on every facet of living.
This development is also in line with the advisory from the National Economic Council (NEC), which urged states to design independent responses to the subsidy removal, and also come up with strategies to help enhance food production in the State.
The measure was announced by the Secretary to the State Government, Professor Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi, on behalf of Governor Inuwa Yahaya.
He noted that all state-owned fertilizer selling points/agents across the 11 local government areas are to immediately comply with this directive, adding that the sales and distribution committee should strictly sell to farmers only as a palliative.
It is however to be recalled that Governor Yahaya had earlier inaugurated a committee to ensure seamless sales and distribution of the fertilizer in the 114 wards across the 11 Local Government Areas of the State to ensure that the commodity reached the common farmers.
The Governor also recently set up a committee which went round all the LGA’s and distributed food stuff to the most vulnerable among the residents – the bottom poor – as his personal support to bring succor to them, while the government puts machinery in motion to embark on a full scale palliative distribution.