Chief Alfred Eneh, the Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Enugu chapter, has urged the three tiers of government to subsidise the prices of agricultural inputs to make them affordable.
Eneh made the call on Thursday in Enugu, saying the decision that manufacturing companies should sell such inputs directly to farmers was a welcome development.
He expressed the hope that the measure would check the activities of politicians who often diverted the inputs to other sources to the detriment of the farmers.
“Now that many people are interested in farming, government should peg the cost of agricultural inputs at affordable prices for the small, medium and big time farmers,” he urged.
According to the AFAN chairman, some input producers have increased the prices of their products by 100 per cent, thereby making it difficult for farmers to buy the quantities they required.
Eneh observed that the prices of improved varieties of high breed maize had increased from N140 to N250 while open pollinated breed rose from N100 to N200 per kilogramme.
He said that no fewer than 11,778 members of the chapter had registered for the nationwide registration of farmers while 2,000 were unable to meet the deadline set for the exercise.
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