The Federal Government has denied reports that it was planning to spend N60bn to buy mobile phones for farmers.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adeshina said this in a statement on Friday.
Adeshina, however, confirmed that the FG was planning to distribute 10 million mobile phones to farmers, but failed to disclose the exact amount the purchase would cost.
He explained that the mobile phones would be used to scale up the access of farmers to improved seeds and fertilizers to millions of farmers directly.
He said, “My attention has been drawn to the issue of N60bn to be spent on phones for farmers as reported on some media sites and papers.
“The information is absolutely incorrect. My permanent secretary was totally misquoted out of context. There is no N60bn for phones anywhere.”
He noted that the policy the ministry was promoting was to get mobile phones to farmers as part of its agricultural transformation agenda to connect farmers to information.
Others are to expand their access to markets, improve their access to savings and loans, and help them to adapt to climate change dynamics that affect them and their livelihood.
He said, “Nigeria has 110 million cell phones, the largest in Africa. But there is a huge divide: the bulk of the phones are in the urban areas.
“The rural areas are heavily excluded. For agriculture, which employs 70 per cent of the population, that means the farmers are excluded and marginalised.
“In today's world, the most powerful tool is a mobile phone. As the Minister of Agriculture, I want the entire rural space of Nigeria and farmers to be included, not excluded, from advantages of the mobile phone revolution.”
The distribution of the phones, he noted, would be facilitated through a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Communications Technology and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, with the Ministry of Women Affairs.
