Two million farmers will get phones this year, says Agric Minister

Adeshina

The Minister of Agriculture, Dr Akinwumi Adeshina has said that two million farmers would get cell phones this year, even as he again denied that the federal government would spend N60 billion to procure phones for 10 million farmers.

Towards the end of last year, the permanent secretary in the Ministry, Mrs Ibukun Odusote had announced that government was planning to procure 10 million cell phones worth about N60 billion from China and the US for free distribution to rural farmers across the country.

Dr Adesina, who literally said the permanent secretary was on her own, however, admitted that government will subsidize the cost of cell phones but not from the regular annual budget.

According to the Minister, who fielded questions from the State House correspondents yesterday, the subsidy would be drawn from the Universal Service Provision Fund, which is two percent of tax being contributed by the telecom operators.

"Let me say this loud and clear: There will be no direct procurement of phones by the federal government. We are also not going to give anyone contracts to import phones from China or anywhere else. Let me also state loud and clear: there is no 60 billion Naira anywhere to be used to buy cellphones.

"The Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Communications Technology are partnering to implement this policy. We intend to get about 2 million phones to farmers who do not have phones this year.

"Phones will be sold directly to farmers by local mobile phone service providers. The government simply subsidizes the cost of the phone directly to the farmer. Government will work with interested mobile phone service companies to achieve its goal", he stated.

Justifying why the farmers must be provided with cell phones, the Minister noted that the success recorded so far in the distribution of fertilizers and seeds was as as result of the electronic wallet (e-wallet) platform introduced using cell phones.

He also dismissed insinuations that farmers cannot use cell phones, rolling out data that to support the decision to provide them with cell phones to ensure wider distribution of fertilizers and seeds.

His words, "some people think that our farmers are uneducated and cannot use cell phones. The evidence does not support that. Under the GES scheme, we made it possible for farmers to transact business in their own local languages using their cellphones.

"From data we collected based on farmers' use of cellphones to access fertilizers and seeds last year, we found that the total number of transactions done by phone with respect to the GES scheme was 4.9 million. Of these, 1.2 million were in English, 620,000 were in Pidgin, 2.2 million were in Hausa, and 854,000 were in Yoruba and 344 were in Igbo.

"From this data, we have no doubt that our farmers are well able to use cellphones. Nigeria is the first country in Africa to launch a GES scheme that delivers farm inputs to farmers using cellphones. We are very proud of this achievement".

The Minister spoke on how they arrived at 10 million farmers, saying "we found that 71% of farmers sampled did not have cell phones. This shows that many of our farmers in rural areas are quite poor and are excluded from the benefits of the mobile phone revolution going on in Nigeria. These farmers cannot access the GES scheme without cellphones and we must find a way to include them. They must not be left behind.

"Some are asking how we arrived at the figure of 10 million farmers. The national bureau of statistics has estimated the number of farmers in Nigeria as 14 million. The FAO also has reported a similar number. From the result of our sampling which showed that 71% of farmers do not have any phones, we can project to the larger population of 14 million and arrive at an estimate of 10 million farmers who probably do not have phones", he explained.

He noted that with cell phones, farmers will have access to market price information, be able to bargain better and save themselves from the middlemen, have access to extension information such as what crops to plant, when to plant and other agronomic practices.

For those calling for his head, whom he described as detractors, Dr Adesina had this to say, "as Minister, I cannot use hype to guide policies. I must use evidence to guide. We will rapidly modernize the agricultural sector. The days are gone when town criers were used to transmit information in our rural areas. This is a modern world.

"For those calling for my crucifixion, let me say that I have stolen no man’s silver, nor demanded any man’s gold, and will continue to drive bold innovations and reforms to fully modernize and transform the agricultural sector".

Speaking earlier, the Presidential Adviser on Media, Dr Reuben Abati, had said that it was necessary for the Agriculture Minister to clarify the issue once and for all, saying "our expectation is that the public will see the truth and take the truth as it is.

"The provision of phones for farmers is one if the issues that require intervention from this end. There is tendency to politicize everything. Agric ministry is a star ministry in this administration. This is a ministry that a lot has been achieved".