The Esu of Bwari in FCT, Alhaji Ibrahim Yaro, on Tuesday urged the Federal Government to review the e-wallet system of fertiliser distribution introduced by the previous administration.

Yaro told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bwari that the system of using mobile phones to register farmers and issue them with fertiliser made it difficult for farmers to access the commodity.

He said that most farmers in Bwari did not have access to mobile phones and fertiliser since the policy was introduced in 2013.

“70 per cent of farmers in Bwari did not get fertilisers been distributed, since they did not have the phones,” he said.

The Etsu said that a review the e-wallet system would integrate farmers, who could neither read nor write and create room for them to benefit.

The traditional ruler called on the Federal Government to provide farmers with tractors and other farm implements to boost food production in Bwari.

He decried the bad state of the roads in the area, saying that it was affecting the transportation of agricultural produce from the farm to the market.

Yaro said that the lack of mechanised farming implements and absence of access roads was a major challenge for agricultural growth.

He noted that the area council was blessed with fertile land and favourable weather conditions for food production and called on the government to provide one tractor to each ward in the area to help boost food production.

He said, “The only thing that can encourage our people to farm is the provision of fertiliser. Even the youths are complaining that without it they cannot farm this year.

“What I would like the government to help us with is fertiliser. We do not have enough tractors; we do not have enough of other implements that we can work with on our farms.

“I could remember that they brought some tractors here two years ago. They gave us ten tractors and each ward had one tractor. We actually need machineries like that to improve our productivity.

“We have bad roads in the area council; the road from the Law school to the Bwari central market is bad. Government had awarded the contract to tar the road for us, but immediately the contractor started work on the road, they left.

“As we speak now, the road is not even up to 50 per cent complete and the contractor has left. In fact, we are suffering. These are the things that we are asking the federal government to assist us to look into.”

The Etsu described Bwari as the food basket of FCT and known for the massive production of yams, maize, guinea corn, groundnuts, soya beans, rice, melon, millet, and fruits.

Yaro promised to organise a training programme in October to build the capacity of indigenous farmers in the area.

He said that the training would empower farmers to adopt modern farming techniques. (NAN)

•Photo shows fertilizer distribution depot

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