As part of the efforts to mitigate the shortage of food supply in his constituency and to promote agriculture, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Labour, Employment, and Productivity, representing Plateau Central Senatorial District of Plateau State, Senator Diket Plang, has distributed 10 trailers of fertiliser to farmers in his constituency.

The Senator also organised training for farmers in the Senatorial districts comprising Mangu, Bokkos, Pankshin, Kanam, and Kanke local government areas of the state on how to apply fertilisers.

Speaking with newsmen while flagging off the distribution of the fertilizers in the Kanke local government area on Saturday, Senator Plang, who declared that each of the trailers contained 600 bags of fertiliser, said the commodities were directly purchased from the factory to certify that they were genuine and the best for the farmers in the senatorial district.

“I am doing this because one of the greatest needs of Nigerians is food. And one of the professions of my people is farming. If we can improve and facilitate an increment in food production, it’ll go a long way in ameliorating the shortage of food both in my district and the state at large. People are complaining of low salaries, and the best way to complement the little income is through farming to ensure sufficiency of food production at an affordable price.

“And I feel that farming should be one of the occupations to engage in during this period to combat the effect of hunger. And President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is very passionate about this, and everyone is expected to key into it.

“Normally, you need to train them on the applications of fertilizers; that is why I brought in experts to train them in this regard and other things that have to do with increasing the yield. There are stages where the application of fertilizer is necessary. For the early stage, you need urea; for the fruiting stage, when seedlings are beginning to come up, you need MPK.”

Senator Plang, who said he had initially distributed assorted grains for the people, cautioned against the sale of fertilizers, adding that no matter the price in the open market, they stand to gain more in the long run if applied to their farms.

On the sharing form, Senator Plang disclosed that the distribution will be in groups such as associations, religious groups, traditional rulers, and elders that are into farming, among others, adding that those concerned will get their shares irrespective of political affiliations.