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BOA set to review loans to farmers

By on September 21, 2014

The Bank of Agriculture (BOA) on Thursday said it would review its loan facilities to farmers to target peculiar planting seasons and their needs.

The South-West Zonal Manager of the bank, Mr Olusegun Ashiwaju, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that most farmers had complained of the delay in disbursing the loans to them.

“The issue of interest rate is not the major challenge to farmers but the timeliness of the loans because most of the sectors under agriculture have their seasons.

“Even in poultry farming, animal husbandry and crop planting, they all depend on timely release of fund, so farmers want timely involvement of fund.

“BOA is a development finance institution that encourages the growth and development agriculture and also meets the requirement of farmers,’’ Ashiwaju said.

The manager said the review would enable farmers to access fund at the appropriate time which would enhance the production of agricultural commodities. Meanwhile, the  Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on Thursday organised  a training workshop on quality hides and skin production for livestock farmers in Nasarawa State.

The Director of the Ministry in the state, Alhaji Yusuf Mohammed, said at the occasion in Lafia that the workshop would boost livestock production in the country through value chain addition.

Mohammed said that with the requisite training, livestock farmers in the country could produce quality and sufficient skin that would make leather a major foreign exchange earner.

He said agricultural goods produced in the country were of better quality than those imported and decried the attitude of some Nigerians who preferred foreign commodities.

According to him, the training, which is part of the Federal Government’s transformation agenda in the agricultural sector, would improve the economic fortunes of the farmers.

“The whole ideal is to encourage the farmers to enhance their productivity through adequate training,” Mohammed said.

He reiterated government’s desire to harness the nation’s agricultural potentials toward self sufficiency in food production.

Mr Otubor Oghenerukewe, the Livestock Development Officer in the ministry, said government was committed to boosting livestock production by supporting the farmers with necessary inputs at subsidised rates.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that participants of the workshop were drawn from the 13 local government areas of the state. (NAN)

[Daily Independent]