As part of deepening backward integration in agro production, the Federal Government has banned use of NPK 15-15-15 brand of fertilizer, saying the era of the product in farming is over.
In an interview, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh averred that “The reason for the ban was that the fertilizer brand did not add much value to crop production by the farmers”.
He noted that “We call for the ban of fertilizer NPK 151515, which has been used in the country for many years but recent research has revealed that it is not useful for any crop or any soil.
“Soils differ and so do crops. To believe there is one uniform fertilizer you can spread for every crop is a fallacy. And it is because we have done soil tests and change the formulation of fertilizers, local blenders, that some of the yields we are getting now are rising from two tonnes per hectare to five and six.
“So, the President is looking into that and how we can deal with it.”
Analysts say NPK 15-15-15 currently remains the cheapest brand of fertilizer to buy by farmers and queried how the government intends to handle the total ban when other major brands that supports high yields and soil compatibility are nowhere to access.
For more than three years now, the federal government had been working on a template to partner with Morocco in fertilizer production, but results of the partnership is yet to yield meaningful fruits as farmers remain helpless.
