The Federal Executive Council (FEC) through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) has renewed the (Growth Enhancement Support Programme) GES agreement with Cellulant Nigeria Limited, for the provision of e-wallet technology to farmers across the country who are registered under the scheme.
The program which uses e-wallet technology to allot government subsidies, fertilisers, improved seeds, agrochemicals and good farming practices to farmers, has been the flagship program of the FMARD in the last four years that has served an average of 6 million farmers annually.
“We are grateful to the Federal Government for partnering with us towards making Nigeria a greater agrarian country,” said Bolaji Akinboro, CEO, Cellulant Nigeria, in a statement made available to BusinessDay.
Akinboro said Cellulant Nigeria is delighted to continue to provide the GES service to farmers.
Nigeria is the first country in the world to implement the e-wallet technology. Other countries that have implemented this technology include Togo, Liberia and it will soon be extended to 13 other sub-Saharan African countries and the Middle East. The program has far been internationally recognised as a successfully implemented e-wallet platform.
Prior to the renewal of the agreement, the government has requested for certain improvements to the technology so that it can continue to serve Nigerian farmers better.
The upgraded technology was field tested with a pool of 500,000 farmers- who grew 1.3 million metric tons of rice and maize from May through September 2016.
The approval of the President for the continuation of the program and the retention of Cellulant has proved that it is possible for a project that positively impacted on people’s lives to be passed from one administration to another.
The Nigerian Government is commencing an all-round farming year using the e-wallet system, the statement states.
The program aims to reach between 5-9 million farmers with good quality seeds, fertilisers, and pesticides. The government and the farmers will both contribute to the costs of the farming inputs as part of the subsidy agreement.
It is important to note that the GES scheme is actually an economic impetus program as the e-wallet system is a mechanism that propels economic activities into rural areas. To efficiently kick off inputs distribution for dry season, training sessions on how to use the e-wallet platform has been organised in all six geopolitical zones in Nigeria.
During the next phase of project, the FGN through the FMARD has also approved that Cellulant should work with the financial sectors under the Nigeria Agriculture Payment Initiative (NAPI) to digitize payments in the sector.
This initiative will increase the adoption rate of mobile phones in the remote areas of the country and this will encourage the Government’s drive towards financial inclusion of those who live in the hinterland.
Josephine Okojie
