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The Taraba state Commissioner of Agriculture and Natural resources, Dr. David Ishaya Kassa, on Sunday debunked allegations by some farmers that his ministry colluded with top goverment functionaries to divert farm inputs provided by the state government for distribution to farmers.
Kassa who stated this during an exclusive interview with Blueprint said the allegation was a blatant lie from the pit of hell.
“They was no diversion of any farm inputs as alleged, that report by one online media was a fake information,” he said.
He said governor Ishaku had given a matching order that farm inputs must be distributed to the farmers in a transparent manner.
He noted that the allegation that officials of the ministry of agriculture and natural resources and top politicians diverted the commodity to the black marketers where a kit of farm inputs were sold at N12,000 and N13,000 was fake.
He stressed that no single item was given to any politician or religious leaders to be delivered to farmers.
“As we speak, we have not received any report of diversion, but in case they might be any, we will not take it lightly,” he noted.
He disclosed that governor Ishaku has awarded the contract for the purchase of farm inputs, which include soya beans, maize, rice and herbicides to the tone of N220 million.
According to him, the items, which came in a kit of four-in-one, were delivered to the ministry by the contractor and distributed, based on the governor’s directive.
He informed that the governor directed that the items be distributed to farmers across the state through divisional agricultural officers.
