FG to review agric policies to tackle poverty, unemployment – Nanono
…FirstBank boss charges stakeholders to embrace available agricultural financing solution
…Afreximbank wants FG to ensure sustainability of policies
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, has said the Federal Government is working to review agricultural policies to strengthen its value chain, while tackling poverty and unemployment rate in the country.
Speaking at the third edition of the First Bank of Nigeria Limited Agricultural Exhibition with the theme: “Agricultural Value Chain:
“Spotlighting Opportunities and Managing Risks” in Lagos at the weekend, the minister disclosed that the Federal Government would also create an enabling environment that would promote agro industrialisation for sustainable growth and development.
He explained that government focus would be on the review of agricultural policies to make them friendlier.
Nanono said apart from the government’s resolve to review agricultural policies to make them friendlier, other focus of the government would be on local Agric business development, responsible agriculture investment, agricultural education and mechanisation of technical and trading facilities for farmers.
He said the country need a formidable agricultural sector to eradicate poverty, achieve good health and general wellbeing of the citizenry.
According to him, the Agric ministry would partner with relevant stakeholders in agriculture to transform the sector to boost production and employment that would enhance agricultural transformation which he said was key to achieving sustainable growth and development in Nigeria.
On his part, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, FirstBank Limited, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, called on farmers and stakeholders in the agricultural value chain to avail themselves with the available agricultural financing solutions the bank is providing to ensure the growth of the sector.
According to him, the bank has in the past 125 years of operations focused on financing agricultural development as well as providing support for the growth of agribusinesses in the country.
“Agricultural financing has been and still is a core part of our business in FirstBank today. As you may all be aware, this is First Bank’s 125th anniversary year.
It is worthy of note that we commenced operations with a major strategic focus on financing agriculture development as well as enabling farmers and agro-businesses.
We are therefore celebrating 125 years of supporting agriculture and Agric business development in Nigeria”, Adeduntan said.
While appreciating the imperative of the extensive agricultural value chain; the position of the agricultural sector as a major contributor to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as significance in generating FOREX earnings, employment and import substitution and its ability to eradicate hunger and poverty, Adeduntan said First Bank has supported several state governments on Agricultural Development Trust Fund Scheme.
Trust Fund Scheme, according to him, is an initiative designed to provide credit facilities to small scale farmers who would otherwise, be constrained by the lack of collaterals.
“We are partnering with a good number of states on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Accelerated Agric Development Scheme (ADDS). Notably, we have disbursed more than N40 billion under the CBN’s Paddy Aggregation Scheme (PAS),” he added.
Under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS), the Federal Government and Central Bank initiative designed to provide long tenured credit facilities to commercial agricultural enterprises at single digit interest rate.
The FirstBank MD said the bank has supported 118 projects (over 23%) of the total of 509 projects by all the banks put together.
Under the initiative, Adeduntan said the bank has disbursed over N100 billion for the project spread across input supplies, primary production, processing and marketing to obligors which include small, medium and large-scale enterprise in the agricultural value chain
just as he said that the Bank is supporting research and development through the endowment of professorial chairs in Agriculture in some Nigerian Universities.
The keynote speaker, President of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Professor Benedict Oramah, who was represented at the event by the Senior Manager, Export Development Advisory at the bank, Mr. Babajide Sodipo, called on the government to ensure sustainability of its policies.
He also called on the government to subsidise farmers instead of fuel so that farmers would continue to contribute significantly to the nation’s GDP.
Sodipo urged the stakeholders in the agricultural value chain to grow their knowledge in order to derisk the sector just as he encouraged the engagement of proper risk management mechanism that will take care of the losses.
In his goodwill message, Governor of Ondo State, Mr. Rotimi Okeredolu, who was represented by Pastor Akin, called on the government to look into the community road network.
“Our government should make concerted efforts and deliberate policies to transform our urban road to provide access to link the communities with the cities,” he said.
He appealed to the Federal Government for a window to be created through the CBN to address land clearing problem in the Southern part of the country.
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