Locals in Kano rent out farmlands over high cost of fertiliser

• Experts suggest alternative

As the 2023 rainy season begins in many parts of the country, the continued hike in the price of fertiliser has remained a source of worry to many farmers in the country.

The farmers are afraid that they may not recover their capitals, let alone profit, after committing a lot of resources as a result of the high cost of inputs this farming season.

Smallholder farmers are the most affected. And some of them are considering giving up on the system, or better still, reduce the size of their farmlands this year.

Majority of the farmers told our correspondent that they had no option than to reduce the size of their farms as they could not afford adequate fertiliser.

“We have already given up on the system. We had some hope in this government because they subsidised the price of fertiliser, but now, things are worse than before. I have two hectares of farm and I relied on them to feed my family, but I can only cultivate one-third of the farm,” a farmer from Kura in Kano State, Ayuba Manya, said.

Another farmer, Musa Auwalu in Bunkure, said many smallholder farmers were giving out large parts of their farms to wealthy individuals for some token as they could not afford to purchase inputs that would suffice them for successful crop plantation and harvesting.

He said the situation had turned many of them into labourers, with few or no crops to take home from their farms.

As one of the major farm inputs, fertiliser plays a pivotal role to good yield. Experts said although it is next after good seed, no farm produce can grow and produce good yield without it.

In a visit to some of the fertiliser markets in Kano, it was found that the commodity is witnessing a hike in price.

NPK 20-10-10 is usually priced from N15,000 to N17,000. Urea is sold between N21,000 and N22,000. Golden NPK is also sold at N25,000.

A simple calculation for an average farmer who owns a hectare of rice that normally consumes eight bags of fertiliser is that it would cost nearly N156,000. In a hectare, an average farmer can get between 30 and 40 sacks of paddy, depending on the seed and process adopted.

However, data from the International Fertiliser Development Centre showed that Nigeria imported 706,922 metric tonnes of fertilizer in 2021, up from the 429,303 imported in 2020, mainly diammonium phosphate, muriate of potash and granular ammonium sulphate.

Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that at the beginning of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, the government entered an agreement with fertiliser blending companies in Nigeria to supply raw materials from countries like Morocco, Russia, and Ukraine for them to blend for the government to sell to farmers at a subsidised rate.

The policy, when in use through the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI), facilitated under the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), reduced the price of fertiliser and impacted positively on farmers, people familiar with the policy said.

Speaking to Daily Trust on Sunday on the possible reasons for the rising cost of fertiliser in the country, Dr Farouk Hamzat, owner of a fertiliser blending company in Kano, said government’s decision to stop the PTI was what led to the incessant increase of the price of the commodity. He added that the price would keep rising inasmuch as government did not intervene.

“In 2017, this administration introduced a PFI policy, through which farmers got fertiliser at cheaper prices. By the arrangement, the government would supply all the raw materials to blending companies like our own. Our job was just to blend and package the fertiliser. At that time, there was a fixed price. For example, NPK was sold at N5,500. Agro dealers would buy from the government and sell to farmers at a subsidised rate.

“But suddenly, at the end of 2020, the government said it would no longer do that. We are now on our own. We buy raw materials from the federal government through the NSIA, which imports it into the country, blend it and price it in the market. That is why the price keeps going up,” he said.

According to him, fertiliser is usually made up of four major raw materials, out of which two are imported into the country. The two imported materials are usually from Russia and Ukraine, as well as places like Morocco and others. He added that the ongoing war between the two major fertiliser exporters had seriously affected the sector.

He also said individual marketers were banned from importing the products and that only the federal government could do that, after which the blending companies would purchase. He said because they were purchased in dollars, that currency was determining the price; hence another reason for increase.

“There are four major raw materials for fertiliser; POP, MOP, Urea and limestone. The MOP and POP are the most important and are imported from the international market. We have the remaining two in Nigeria. If you buy these products and blend them, they will give fertiliser. So, considering the cost of the products, coupled with transportation and diesel, fertiliser must rise in price,” he said.

He said some of the raw materials had their prices doubled by more than 200 per cent and some even tripling.

Manure as alternative

Expressing their concern, some farmers in Kano told our correspondent that manure, such as animal dung, waste dump etc, was the only alternative to fertiliser.

Sani Jibrin, a farmer from Danbatta Local Government Area, said he already had a small truck of manure in his farm and still searching for more as he could not afford fertiliser.

He said, “Last year, I reduced the farm size but didn’t get what would hold me for even three months. Now, I am battling with food to eat with my family. That is why this time around, I will buy manure. I already have some and still looking for more.”

Another farmer from Dawakin Kudu Local Government Area, Shehu Nuhu, said he didn’t get what he spent from his farm last year because rain stopped before his rice reached harvest stage despite the high cost of fertiliser and other inputs; hence this year, he would have to resort to using manure.

“As you can see, this is close to the rainy season but the price of fertiliser is still on the rise. It is expected to be costly during this season, so I have already given up. I will just use manure,” he said.

Proffering solution, an expert in agriculture at the Kano Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (KNARDA), Gambo Isa Garko, said that in order to reduce the cost of fertiliser, farmers should embrace the use of manure. He, however, said they should use 50 per cent of fertiliser in order to make profit.

He said there were modern ways of spraying fertiliser in farms, known as hay or compass making, which are more impactful and maximise the amount of the commodity used in a farm. The process is to dig a hole before a crop and put the manure inside for easy penetration.

“While we urge the government to always supply fertiliser to farmers at a subsidised rate, we want farmers to also adopt some measures to address the problem themselves. This way, they can maximise the cost of inputs and get more profit, otherwise there is a problem,” he advised.

On his part, Dr Farouk said government should revive its presidential fertiliser initiative in order to end the frequent increase in the price of fertilizer. He warned that if not, it would reach a point where farmers would leave their farms, a situation that will not be good for the country.

“The PFI system was really supportive; and it has impacted on farmers. It led to serious improvements in the farming sector. But nowadays, because the policy is not existing, people are going backward. The little progress witnessed that ushered people back to the farm has reduced. People are now demoralised; and it won’t be good for all of us,” he warned.