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Abstract
This paper seeks to analyse the evidence from policy experimentation in Nigerian agriculture, and
to draw the lessons experience therefrom. This was based on participant observation techniques in
collecting data and information on the agricultural transformation programme recently
implemented, with particular reference to the delivery of price subsidy on fertilizer and seed to
small-scale farmers nationwide, using mobile phone technology. Results indicated that the
programme failed to improve upon the inherited poor structure, conduct and performance of the
farm input market. While the quantity of fertilizer supplied increased by a paltry 27% during the
period under study, the volume of subsidy paid increased by a whooping 785%. Thus, the use of
mobile phone was not accompanied by any perceptible saving in in public fund deployed for
subsidy provision on fertilizer and seed. Like the previous programmes, the use of mobile phone to
deliver subsidy to farmers was not corruption free after all. Thus, in the light of the high opportunity
costs involved, weighed against the political cost of its removal over the years, it appears that there
is no end to corruption in the agricultural sector unless and until the fertilizer subsidy is removed
entirely and alternative modes of supporting small-scale farmers is found in Nigeria.