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Ministry signs MoU with Bank of Agriculture, Bank of Industry

By BusinessNews Staff on December 8, 2013

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Bank of Agriculture and the Bank of Industry to support cassava farmers.
The MoU, which was signed in Abuja, would make available N6.7 billion to support cassava farmers and processors.
During the signing ceremony, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, pledged that the government would always promote the interests of the farmers.
The minister, who is the 2013 Forbes Africa Man of the Year, said that the funding arrangement was expected to reach 29,500 cassava farmers, while providing them access to loans and agricultural inputs.
“With the Bank of Agriculture, we are signing a facility of N2.4 billion; this is part of the Cassava Bread Development Fund.
“This will facilitate input services for 29,500 cassava farmers across the country.
“N929 million will be dedicated to mechanisation support for the farmers.
“The funding arrangement will be 50 per cent grant and 50 per cent loan; N708 million in grants will be used to provide planting materials; N796 million will be used to support provision of agro inputs.
“This is a huge step in efforts to support our cassava farmers,’’ he added.
The minister said that the Bank of Industry’s facility would be N4.3 billion, adding that it would be used to support small-scale and medium-scale cassava processing enterprises.
Adesina, who said that the facility would enable entrepreneurs to have access to new equipment, disclosed that the ministry had upgraded about 135 bakers.
Adesina said that for the big bakers, the facility would support them to have access to high-quality cassava flour.
“Nigeria is blessed with a lot of resources, we have land and we have a lot of water. The country also has working citizens and a big population that should be eating what we produce.
“So, Nigeria has no business being a food importer; we will be unlocking everything we have to actually add value to ourselves,’’ he added.
Also speaking, Ibokun Odusote, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, said that the MoU would boost efforts to transform cassava from a food crop into an industrial raw material.
She said that the arrangement would increase the efficiency of cassava production, revive the high-quality cassava mills, while building the capacity of bakers to produce high-quality cassava bread.
Odusote said that the situation where the country spent about N1 trillion annually on food imports was unacceptable to President Goodluck Jonathan, stressing that “we must work towards self-sufficiency’’.
In his remarks, Mohammed Santoraki, the Managing Director of the Bank of Agriculture, said that the bank was committed to supporting farmers in the country.
He said that the bank’s involvement in agriculture was not opportunistic, adding that the bank was not also out to take undue advantage of government programmes.
Santoaki stressed that agriculture was the bank’s primary assignment, adding that it would always make tangible efforts to empower Nigerian farmers.