Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, has flagged off the distribution of free fertiliser allocated to Nasarawa State by the federal government meant to ease hardship for local farmers, with the governor personally supervising the exercise in order to prevent diversion of the commodity.
The governor commenced the distribution comprising of 50kg each of NPK and urea in Awe, headquarters of Awe LGA, on Tuesday.
He announced that 100 farmers had been selected from each of the 147 electoral wards of the state as beneficiaries.
He explained that in each ward, the fertiliser would be shared in the ratio of 80 NPK to 20 urea.
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In Obi, headquarters of Obi LGA, Governor Sule appealed to farmers not to interfere with the progress of work on the 10,000 hectares being cultivated by the state government in line with food security.
He assured the people that through the government farm, youths in the area would be employed to work on the farm to be used in cultivating rice, sesame and corn.
Commenting on how the 100 beneficiaries from each ward for the fertiliser distribution were selected, the governor said they were chosen by a committee composed of traditional rulers, state assembly members and political appointees, including commissioners and special advisers.
Governor Sule emphasised that the beneficiaries were selected without considering their political, ethnic or religious inclinations as the fertiliser was meant to be shared to farmers without any form of discrimination.