The African Development Bank (AFDB) has disclosed its plans to help Nigeria to return to the electronic wallet system of input distribution to farmers to boost agricultural production.
According to the President of AFDB, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, he disclosed that the system allowed the government to register about 14.5 million farmers and reached them directly with inputs, notably seeds and fertilizers, via electronic coupons on their mobile phones.
He further disclosed that the bank would support Nigeria with about 30 million dollars in reallocated funds to be used for an emergency food plan to produce in the dry season.
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While speaking at a meeting, ahead of the Bank’s 2022 annual meetings in Accra Ghana, he had this to say; “Nigeria needs to go back and use the electronic wallet system that I developed when I was a minister to get fertilizers straight to farmers and cut out all the middlemen. We are going to help the government to do that because when farmers have quality seeds and fertilizers, they can rapidly triple food production,” he said.
“In Nigeria, we have provided 540 million dollars for special agro-industrial processing zones in seven states including the Federal Capital Territory. “That will allow Nigeria to have special zones where you can have agro-processing value addition and increased competitiveness of agriculture. “We are not alone, we put in 170 million dollars and others put in money such as the Islamic Development Bank and other partners”.
The use of a wallet system in the Agricultural sector is a very great initiative, and it is ideal for it to be re-introduced because the use of mobile technology in recent times has been very beneficial, especially in the delivery of government inputs and services.
One beautiful thing about the wallet system is that once farmers are registered on it, it enables the government and other institutions to reach them directly, cutting out all the middlemen.
Looking at the high rate of corruption in Nigeria, in the past years, the Nigerian government has on several occasions supported the agricultural sector with funds and through the procurement and distribution of seeds, fertilizers, and other agricultural inputs to farmers in the country. Unfortunately, the middlemen entrusted to distribute such resources to these farmers end up siphoning billions of dollars, as well as selling some of these inputs to farmers which affected farmers’ productivity.
These farmers on countless occasions are only given a small percentage of government support, which has little or no effect on their production output. But with the e-wallet system, through subsidized electronic vouchers, inputs and resources are delivered directly to them. It is interesting to note that the e-wallet system has gained widespread adoption, with over ten million Nigerian farmers having access to it.
The system has no doubt eradicated corruption from middlemen as well as subsidy schemes, which has prompted banks and other institutions to see the agricultural sector as an interesting one, which has made them willing to lend funds into the sector, knowing full well that such funds and resources will get directly to the farmers.
It might interest you to know that the success of the e-wallet system in Nigeria, has impressed Kenya and Uganda, and both countries have decided to collaborate with Nigeria to introduce the wallet system in their country. The African Union on the other hand has encouraged the use of the wallet system implemented throughout Africa.
Nigeria’s aggregate agricultural output remains extremely low relative to other purchase farm inputs and obtains the required quantity at the right time. This is because farmers have been finding it difficult to procure and distribute users and seeds and have been faced with fraudulent
practices.
The poor distribution, as well as procurement of fertilizer, grossly affected farmers’ productivity and income, but with the re-introduction of the wallet system, such fraudulent practices will be drastically reduced which will improve farmers’ output and generate more income for the country.