FG to Spend 60bn on Mobile Phones for Rural Farmers

Federal Government has concluded plans to distribute cell phones worth N60bn to farmers in the rural areas across the country as part of its efforts to modernize agriculture, and is expected to commence by the end of the first quarter of this year. 

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mrs. Ibukun Odusote, who disclosed this on Tuesday during a sensitisation and orientation programme organised in Igan Ipabi for farmers in Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State, said the fund for the project had already been provided by the government.

Odusote said that the plan was part of the e-Wallet project under which the ministry officials would be able to educate, inform and communicate with the farmers in the rural areas across the country on the latest and best agricultural practices, as well as the current prices of commodities in the market. – Punch

Mind you these farmers we are talking about are illiterates. So I wonder how someone who can barely read or write will be able to understand whatever information is disseminated via the phone. Worse most of these farmers still depend on the cruelest method of farming – hoes! What happens to investing on modern farming equipments, fertilizers, good roads for effective distribution? Sixty billion naira for cell phones? Our government has indeed gone mad!