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Mainstreet Bank lauds FG, commits N10bn to agric development

By on July 18, 2013

Executive Director, Corporate and Investment Banking, Mainstreet Bank Limited, Mr. Roger Woodbridge, has commended the Federal Government (FG) for coming up with the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES), which is designed specifically to provide affordable agricultural inputs like fertilizers and hybrid seeds to farmers in order to increase their yields per hectare and make it comparable to world standard.

Speaking to newsmen after a stakeholders meeting held in Abuja recently, Mr. Woodbridge acknowledged that the GES scheme has enabled the private sector to play an integral role in growing the nation’s food production.

Citing Mainstreet’s experience in funding fertilizer distribution to Agro-dealers and smallholder farmers, he stressed that the Public Private Partnership (PPP) provides effective framework for private sector engagement in overall agricultural development.

On the role of Mainstreet Bank in supporting Nigeria’s agricultural sector, Mr. Woodbridge noted that the bank’s investment of nearly N10billion so far under the GES scheme has given the bank an opportunity to contribute towards the reduction of hunger amongst Nigerians, noting that Mainstreet Bank offers a learning experience to other banks that are still skeptical about agricultural funding.

In his words, ‘Nigerian banks must lend support to human centered development activities such as agriculture, which has the ability to increase the production capacity of local farmers, as well as aid gainful employment for the youth population.”

It would be recalled that in the recently released report, the progress of the affected countries was measured between 1990 to 1992 and 2010 to 2012, against benchmarks established by the international community at the UN General Assembly in 2000. The countries achieving MDG 1 alone were identified to include: Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chile, Dominican Republic, etc.

 

 

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