Commercial banks high-interest rate bane of agricultural development –Audu Ogbeh
High-interest rate charges from the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) operators in the country have been identifies as the bane of agricultural development, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has said.
The minister believes that the high-interest rate from banks remained the bane of financing of agriculture and the development of good agricultural practices.
In a keynote address at the maiden edition of the Nigeria Food and Safety Investment Forum held in Lagos yesterday, Ogbeh explained that a situation where commercial banks request for as much as 25 percent interest on agricultural loans was capable of crippling the government’s policy of economic diversification through agriculture.
“We still have trouble finding lenders to farmers; the banking sector still considers agriculture a zone of high danger. So the small farmer or big farmer has immense difficulties accessing credit. And so the farmer in Nigeria finds it extremely difficult to farm like other Nigerians do elsewhere.
“Interest rate in agriculture across the globe average three per cent, here it still stands at 25 per cent and above”, he lamented.
He added: “That kind of interest rate may be good for producing cocaine but certainly not for producing okra, rice, and beans, yam and cassava. So we can do it right, and if we can get it right trouble starts from the farm gate”, he said.
