NFFAWAG cries for help

National Farmers and Fishermen Award Winners Association of Ghana (NFFAWAG) has appealed to President John Dramani Mahama to expedite action on payment for 2015 fertilizer subsidy programme.

They accordingly asked the president to get his finance and agric ministers to assure the importers of the commodity of early payment in order to have enough subsidised fertilizers on the market.

Their plea followed the decision by Yara Ghana Limited, to pull out of the programme.

Yara Ghana is one of the seven (7) companies contracted by government to supply subsidized fertilizer.

According to the company, the withdrawal was to allow it to reach farmers with enough fertilizers on time.

However, NFFAWAG claimed Yara Ghana’s decision was as a result of delay on terms of payment by the ministries of finance and the agriculture.

A deputy Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Ahmed Yakubu, was reported to have said, “the ministry was not aware of the company’s withdrawal from the subsidy programme and that even if that was the case, the programme would not be affected.”

But the farmers said their checks revealed that other distributors including Chemico Limited, Afcott Ghana Limited, AMG West Africa Limited, Louis Dreyfus Commodities Limited and ETC Ghana Limited “are conspicuously battling with issues concerning exchange rate differentials with the ministry of finance and therefore any further delay in resolving the problem could jeopardise the quantities supplied under the programme.”

Briefing the media yesterday in Accra, the Chairman for NFFAWAG, Mr. Davis Korboe, said small holder farmers and women cultivating maize, rice, sorghum and millet who are the target groups under the fertilizer subsidy programme are in limbo due to the current delay in solving payment issues.

That, he noted, led to the shortage of subsidized fertilizers on the market.

He said the product which used to sell at a reduced rate of 21 per cent is now selling for GH?89.00 per 50kg for compound fertilizer.

Mr. Korboe stressed that NFFAWAG could not fold its arms and allow women, peasant and small holder farmers to go through the pain of buying fertilizer at such prices when the government gave them hope and assurance of getting fertilizer at a subsidised rate and on time.

He urged the agriculture and finance ministries to quicken action in resolving the problem of payment.

The chairman observed that the southern and middle belts of Ghana were already recording low yields as a result of inadequate government subsidised fertilizer in the market, noting delay in payment arrangements will further put pressure on importers

He indicated that the rainy season is just about to start in the three northern regions.

To this end, he called on the finance minister to work expeditiously to ensure that the 2013 problem where payments delayed does not occur again.

He said agriculture being the backbone of the economy should be prioritised.

Mr. Kroboealso also pleaded with Yara Ghana Limited to consider their decision for the sake of the Ghanaian farmer and return to the scheme whilst it dialogued with the government on all pertinent issues of concerned.