The vice president, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, has emphasised the need to breed successor farmers by attracting young people through adequate finance. He identified funding as critical to improving agricultural production.
Osinbajo disclosed the readiness of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), through the Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending, (NIRSAL) initiative, to take up the challenge of funding agriculture by giving grants to farmers.
He attributed the “phenomenal success of the Kebbi State rice programme where the farmers move from 3.5 metric tonnes (mt) per hectare to 7.5mt per hectare” to the single-digit interest rate extended by the Anchor Borrowers’ Scheme of the CBN used for timely purchase of fertiliser and other inputs.
Speaking on the Agricultural Promotion Policy, tagged Green Alternative, he said, “It covers all agricultural processes, including land use, fertiliser types, appropriate technologies, science and technology, and telecommunications for monitoring the movement of tractors in mechanised agriculture.”
He further revealed that the ministry has concluded plans to recapitalise and re-engineer the Bank of Agriculture to grant single-digit interest loan before the end of this quarter.