Nigerian govt to support farmers with interest-free loans —Agric minister

The Nigerian government will collaborate with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) with a view to supporting farmers nationwide with interest-free loans, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Sabo Nanono said on Sunday.

He made the declaration while receiving the 2020 Wet Agricultural Performance Survey, according to a statement released in Abuja by Ezeaja Ikemefuna, an information official of the ministry.

“The ministry would support the farmers with agricultural inputs and zero interest loans through the Central Bank of Nigeria and other financial institutions to mitigate the effect of the COVID-19 and the recent flooding especially in Kebbi, Jigawa and Kano States,” Nanono said.

The CBN in September announced it would henceforth share 50% of the loss incurred by farmers in its Anchor Borrowers Programme in order to succour them against the worst drought in the country in the last five years.

Read also: Farmers will reap benefits of my govt’s policies – Buhari

Nanono said of the survey the exercise had demonstrated that result-oriented subsidisation of input would bolster productivity in the agriculture industry.

He enjoined farmers to ramp up efforts and concentrate on recording higher progress during the dry season farming in a bid to mitigate losses from the coronavirus pandemic.

Farmers in the northern part of the country are facing a particularly cruel season this year, having seen downpours of rain submerging paddy fields and other produce in a region known for low rainfall round the year, forcing them to count losses.

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