Nigerian farmers get N30 billion support for 2012 farming season

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,
Nigerian Minister of Finance

Nigerian farmers get N30 billion support for 2012 farming season
By Halima Umar Saleh

The Nigerian government has developed a mechanism that would provide thirty billion Naira financial supports to agriculture.

The announcement was made at the signing ceremony of a Tripartite Memorandum of Understanding for the Input Financing of the 2012 Farming Season between the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture in Abuja .

While signing the memorandum, Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the facility was meant to support agricultural input dealers to ensure that supplies of inputs got to farmers on time for the 2012 farming season.

“It is now time for action and we should be focused on the area that matters to the Nigeria people. We now have an implementable plan for the agricultural sector.” She stated.

She said: “We want agriculture to grow so that the country can have a reasonably priced food on their tables, have job sufficiency for young people, achieve food security and also recapture markets that we have lost. To achieve these objectives, we are supporting the most critical group in agriculture, the farmers with fertilizer and other inputs. We are doing this in an immovable way that will ensure that we get result after this.”

Risk Sharing Mechanism

According to Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, government was putting its money where necessary to improve on the economy, adding that the Ministry of Finance would ensure that the loan would reach the farmers to enable them plan for the next farming season.

“With the commencement of the Risk Sharing Mechanism (RSM) that has been developed within the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Ministry of Agriculture, government would use the RSM to bridge the gap.” she explained.

The Minster commended Nigerian banks for their support to farmers to enable them get their inputs in 2012, adding that she was delighted that the banking sector had stepped up to the challenge.

The 30 billion naira financial support is expected to propel an improvement in Nigeria 's economy and if appropriately used, will improve production, facilitate better processing and marketing of inputs.

At a single digit interest rate to the agricultural input dealers, the banks and financiers would provide 22 billion naira for fertilizers and 2.7 billion naira for seed procurement and distribution.

The Nigerian government will guarantee 70 per cent of the loan principals under the same scheme and the loan will be made available to the duly registered agricultural inputs dealers across the six geopolitical zones at a subsidised interest rate of seven per cent per annum.

As for the interest rate subsidy of 15 per cent, government is to bear eight per cent while the farmers pay the remaining seven per cent.

More than five million farmers across the country are expected to benefit from the scheme, which is aimed at fulfilling Nigeria ’s decision to feed itself by raising productivity efficiently and competitively.

Agriculture-new business

Nigeria presently uses 8000 metric tones of improved seeds, which means that only five per cent of the Nigerian farmers have access to improved seeds.

The country also has an average fertilizer use rate of only 13 kilogram’s per hectare, as against the global harvest of 100 kilogram’s per hectare.

“Obviously for us to attain the goals, we have set as a government to produce additional 20 million metric tones of food in the next four years. We have to quickly raise our productivity of our agricultural system, and to so we must make sure that our farmers have access to improve seed and fertilizers in particular,” the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina stated.

He maintained that the present administration was making agriculture a business, where government’s role would no longer be the provision of fertilizers or seedlings but the facilitator of incentives and a level-playing field for farmers.

The Agriculture Minister said: “if other commodities like Cocoa and Kola nuts could be found easily, then so should fertilizer as it is also a commodity.”

Adesina also disclosed that government would soon introduce electronic wallets, which would allow farmers to access their fertilizers using their handsets.

The event was attended by several stakeholders in the Agro-allied industries, including the Minister of State for Agriculture, Dr. Bukar Tijjani, Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa state, the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Miss Arunma Oteh and the Chairman of the Bankers Committee, Mr Aigboji Imoukhuede.

Hajia Sani