Farmers in Benue State have cried out over the alleged refusal of the state government to grant them fertilizer loan after being compelled to pay over N20, 000 each.
The state governor, Samuel Ortom had few weeks back declared Fridays as public holidays to enable residents go to their farms.
Subsequently
, the Benue State government flagged off the distribution of agricultural inputs.
According to Ortom, his government had mapped out ambitious targets to be achieved under the programme involving 20, 000 farmers in the rainy season and another 20, 000 during the dry season.
However, findings by DAILY POST show that most farmers who had applied for the loan have not been given a dime.
One of the applicants, who gave his name as Joe told DAILY POST that they made several efforts to get the attention of the Commissioner for Agriculture, James Ahua to no avail.
He said, “We were asked to go and farm, I applied for loan through my cooperative, we were even compelled to pay N20,000 as a cooperative before our loan can be attended to. We paid and they issued us a receipt of farmers’ association, but as we speak, we have not been given a dime.
“I wonder why they are collecting people’s monies in these hard times and no loan is being given. What’s really happening?” he lamented.
However, several efforts to reach the information desk of the agric ministry of the state could not yield result at the time of this report.
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