By Mohammed Baba Busu
Niger Government says it will soon phase out the use of chemical fertilizers that are harmful to human beings and have bad effects to the soil.
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development , Alhaji Musa Bosso stated this in a chat with newsmen in Minna on Saturday
He said that as part of Gov. Umar Bago’s New Niger Agenda, the administration was working out modalities to discourage the farmers in the state from the use of inorganic fertilizers like Urea, NPK, which are dangerous to human health.
Bawa disclosed that the ministry ha been holding meetings with commodity associations to sensitize them on the importance of liquid organic fertilizer to gradually phase out the inorganic fertilizers in the state.
 According to the commissioner, it was as a result of this that Nigeria’s crops were rejected over the years abroad as they cannot pass through the criteria of quality assurance, which also affects the market value of such crops.
The commissioner said that youths would be gainfully employed in the 250,000 hectares of land to be cultivated, 10,000 each in the 25 local government areas.
He added that 1000 tractors would soon arrive the state as part of an MOU with Czech republic.
“The government will deploy the technology in terms of land preparation which have been the challenges confronting farmers in the state, through the provision of modern tractors and accessories tailored for African markets,” he said.
Out of the 25,000 hectares of land, 15 youths would be employed in each of the hectares, with one solar megawatt power for each hectares.
Bawa added that the youths would be engaged in skills like, planting, herbicide, wedding, harvesting, bagging and transportation respectively.
“To ensure the realization of the policies and programmes of the government, the three years outstanding counterpart funds have been paid to agencies involved in value chain initiatives, Fadama and IFAD,” the commissioner added.
