Ministry seeks second license for Agric Bank, targets 40m customers

By Moses Ebosele (ebosele@hotmail.com) –

   The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) has concluded plans to secure second licence for Bank of Agric from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as part of measures to provide adequate funding for farmers.

  Under the arrangement, the Bank will open offices in all the Local Government Areas in Nigeria and facilitate prompt loans for farmers.

   Speaking at an interactive session with Journalists and social media commentators on Saturday in Kuje, Abuja, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh explained that the Bank will attract not less than 40million customers.

  The Minister who spoke before the Journalists were conductd round a farm in Kuje decried the high interest rate charged by commercial Banks in Nigeria, “any interest rate higher than 5-7 per cent is not for farmers. It’s 3-4 per cent in the United States and United Kingdon, Brazil is 2.5 per cent and Japan is zero per cent”.

  According to Ogbeh, the Ministry will also partner partners international agencies as part of measures to provide adequate funding for farming activities.

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  Making reference to the CBN Anchor programme, Chief Ogbeh said with adequate funding Nigerian farmers will tackle poverty, provide employment and foreign exchange on a sustainable basis.

   The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, recently explained that it had disbursed N33.34 billion to 146,557 farmers under the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP).
The Bank also disclosed that farmers on the scheme have commenced repayment of the loans.

    CBN said: “Details of the loan disbursement and repayment indicate that as at March 31, 2017, N33.34 billion had been released through 12 participating finance institutions in respect of 146,557 farmers across 21 states cultivating over 180,018 hectres of land.

   “Of the total amount of N33.34 billion released to date, about N15.137 billion disbursed to 73,941 Kebbi State farmers have fallen due for repayment with N7.119 billion representing 47 per cent, repaid and returned to CBN.