Abstract

Growth Enhancement Support (GES) Scheme was a key component of Nigerian Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) programme under which redemption centres were established for farmers? easy access to subsidised inputs. Close observation however revealed that some forms of activities that ultimately decimated the level of success attainable under this scheme were perpetrated across redemption centres. This study therefore examined the forms of sharp practices, their causes and effects on the scheme at large. In-depth interview with key informants (IDI) was used to elicit information from strategic officers across selected redemption centres under the scheme in three agricultural zones (Ibadan/Ibarapa, Oyo and Ogbomoso) of the state. Data obtained from the study were analysed using descriptive and qualitative analysis. The study unravelled cryptic practices such as registration and sales of inputs by non-practicing farmers, exchange of Ewallet code for money by farmers, deployment of farmers? input to wrong redemption centres and so on. The study concluded that various forms of sharp practices occurred under the scheme which respondents perceived to have had a negative effect on beneficiaries. It was therefore recommended among other things that, there is a need for an on-field validation of GES scheme data base to sieve out non-practicing farmers, introduction of external supervisors for monitoring activities at redemption centres and a feed-back mechanism from beneficiaries. These will serve to forestall the repetition of similar incidents in subsequent intervention programmes.

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