The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Bank of Agriculture

  • RIFAN begins bio metric data capturing of rice farmers in Zamfara

    RIFAN begins bio metric data capturing of rice farmers in Zamfara

    Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) in collaboration with the Project Monitoring Team of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Anchor Borrower’s Programme (ABP) has begun biometric data capturing of rice farmers.

    The Zamfara RIFAN Chairman, Alhaji Ishaq Ajiya-Anka, disclosed this in an interview in Gusau on Friday.

    He said, the data capturing was for the 2018 dry and wet seasons farming.

    Ajiya-Anka who is a member of the monitoring team, noted that the team was responsible for implementing the CBN/Anchor Borrower’s Programme in the state.

    He said the team had representatives from RIFAN and the Bank of Agriculture (BOA).

    “We have already started biometric data capturing of farmers as well as farmland mapping in Bungudu and Shinkafi LGAs of the state,’’ the official said.

    He said, the two LGAs were among the nine of the 14 LGAs of the state selected for the 2018 CBN Anchor Borrower’s Programme dry season farming in the state.

    Ajiya-Anka listed the remaining seven LGAs to include Anka, Bakura, Bungudu, Gusau, Maradun and Talata-Mafara.

    Read Also: RIFAN  begins registration of 2,000 rice farmers in Daura LGA

    He told our reporter, over 4,000 rice farmers had so far been registered in the two LGAs alone.

    “We are targeting over 60,000 farmers across the state.

    “President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 launched this programme in Kebbi State, but in Zamfara we had not participated in the programme due to some problems but now, we will participate fully.

    “We have been sensitising farmers to this programme; so all the farmers we are registering are aware of this programme and willing to participate and cooperate,’’ he said.

    Ajiya-Anka noted that farmers would be given inputs such as fertilizer, seeds, pumping machines and insecticides as well as cash, under the scheme.

    “Each farmer will be given a loan based on his production capacities.

    “We have already made arrangements with anchors who will buy the rice and process it when farmers harvest their produce,’’ he said.

    He hailed the Federal Government for introducing Anchor Borrower’s Programme through CBN, saying that it had improved rice production in the country.

    NAN

     

  • FMARD to empower 2m youths, women in 3 years

    FMARD to empower 2m youths, women in 3 years

    The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development ( FMARD ) says it will empower about two million Nigerian youths and women in the first three years of its new initiative, Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprise ( LIFE ).

    The LIFE Programme Coordinator, Ms Keke Bongos-Ikwue, disclosed this on Tuesday at the commencement of registration of LIFE cooperatives at Ojokoro LCDA in Ifako/Ijaye Local Government, Lagos state.

    Bongos-Ikwue said that the LIFE was an initiative of the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, targeting unemployed or underemployed women and youths.

    “We have been planning this programme for over two years and this is our first outing.

    “The pilot phase of the outing is being replicated in 24 states plus the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT ) simultaneously by different groups as we speak.

    Read also: Lagos empowers 150 women

    “We want to empower women and youths along the agricultural value chain of high value commodities like ground nut, palm products, wheat, rice, cashew nuts.

    “Also included are commodities like cassava, honey, cocoa, sugarcane, tomato, sesame seed, livestock dairy and aquaculture.

    “The second phase of this programme will cover the whole country within two years.

    “Research has shown that the major cause of insurgency is poverty and idleness; it has led many of the nation’s youth to look outside the country, causing them to become vulnerable and easily manipulated, and eventually some lose their lives.”

    The coordinator said the programme intended to directly empower approximately three million rural youths and women within five years of implementation.

    She added that it would also produce about 14 million metric tons of food in the 9,975 council wards across the 774 local government areas.

    According to her, the programme starts with registration of youths and women as LIFE clusters at the council/ward level to develop LIFE cooperative database.

    The LIFE coordinator said that all geopolitical zones in Nigeria would be visited, adding that the ministry was working with the state governments and local government authorities to achieve its aims.

    Ms Bongos-Ikwue said that the ministry was partnering with state and local governments, Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, international partners and other ministries and agencies on the programme.

    The Special Adviser on Media to the Minister, Dr Olukayode Oyeleye, said that the programme was a developmental intervention, targeting an often overlooked and ignored group in Nigeria.

    Oyeleye said that the programme was to deal only with family enterprises, which had potential to grow.

    “This initiative is to help those already into small agribusiness to grow, who are constrained by finance or technology.

    “The team from FMARD has been divided into 12 to cover 24 states.

    “We will register the would-be beneficiaries and on the basis of the questionnaire they fill, we will collate and analyse to determine the kind of specific intervention to be given to each intended beneficiary.

    “The support we will grant them include access to finance, affordable agricultural inputs for sustainable production, agro-processing and packaging.

    “A robust marketing system that connects rural food surplus to urban cities will also be put in place for efficient market linkage and access,’’ Oyeleye said.

    Also speaking to the LIFE group in his office, the Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Oluwatoyin Suarau commended the initiative but called for caution by the team.

    “We are in the time of politics and you cannot afford to give these would-be beneficiaries money as past experience shows that they can misuse it.

    “Also the age group you are concentrating on, which is 18 years to 35 years, are still majorly students, you have to ensure that your beneficiaries have tangible, visible existing farms or enterprise.

    “You also have to monitor these farmers very well to ensure success of the programme.

    “On our part in the state, we will work with you to verify and identify your beneficiaries.

    “Once again, I want to thank you for including Lagos in the pilot stage of this intervention,’’ the commissioner said.

    NAN

  • Bank of Agriculture disburses N1.4b in Kogi

    Bank of Agriculture disburses N1.4b in Kogi

    The Bank of Agriculture (BOA) has disbursed over N1.4 billion in Kogi State since inception in 1972.

    BOA Managing Director Kabir Muhammed Adamu made this known during the inauguration of its branch in Okene, Kogi Central.

    Of the amount, he said N375,906,289.72 has been repaid, leaving an outstanding balance of over N1 billion, a development he described as discouraging.

    Represented by the Executive Director, Retail Banking, Mr. Emmanuel Ameh, he said prior to the initial closure of the branch, N91,915,624.42 was disbursed to members of the community, adding that the repayment has not been encouraging.

    He added that the branch would have 100 per cent repayment in subsequent disbursements. He called on those who have benefited from its facilities to repay in order for others to benefit.

    The Sole Administrator of Okene Local Government Area, Alhaji Abdulrazaq Mohammed Yusuf, commended the Federal Government for inaugurating the Okene branch.

    He said the bank was brought to Okene to alleviate the suffering of the people, adding that the local government provided farm implements and supplied 600 bags of 50kg NPK fertilisers to farmers at no charge.

     

  • Fed Govt kicks off egg production scheme in Abia

    Fed Govt kicks off egg production scheme in Abia

    The Managing Director, Bank of Agriculture, Kabir Muhammed Adamu has flagged off an egg production scheme in Abia State.

    Adamu, represented by the Executive Director, Partnership, Strategy and Corporate Services, Bank of Industry (BoI), Gabriel Okenwa, said one million jobs would be created in the scheme and that over 50 million eggs would be produced daily.

    Adamu said there is need for massive food production if the country must contain hunger, adding that the scheme will, among other things, boost the protein component of the school feeding programme, create sustainable poultry industry and increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.

    He said the scheme will empower farmers and make them employers of labour which can lead to 1.6 million profit cash at hand and massive wealth creation.

    He said that participants of the scheme are entitled to a loan of N4.3 million to be repaid in two and half years with a single-digit interest rate.

    On why Abia was chosen as one of the pilot states, Adamu stated that it was because of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s support for farmers to ensure food security and job creation, describing it as one of the greatest legacies he will bequeath to the next generation.

    Adamu further assured of the total support of the federal government to the project in the state, urging the governor to keep up his good work. This is even as he reemphasised that Bank of Agriculture will partner with the state to achieve this laudable project.

    In his response, Ikpeazu said Abia has decided to refocus and bring agriculture to the front burner as a way of coming out of recession.

    Ikpeazu explained that his government decided to make agriculture one of the first pillars of his administration because of his belief that it has the capacity to create more jobs and other incentives for the people to better their lives.

    He maintained that poultry farming in Abia must be taken seriously with clusters created to help farmers without adequate capacity with the requisite training.

    He said the state would key into “this federal government’s initiative anchored by the Bank of Agriculture. I call on them to do their best in catapulting agriculture to the place it must be in the scheme of things”.

    Deputy Governor of the state Rt. Hon. Ude Oko Chukwu, state commissioner for Agriculture Hon. Uzo Azubuike and other top government functionaries were present at the event.

  • Nigeria saves N216bn from rice importation – BOA

    Nigeria saves N216bn from rice importation – BOA

    Nigeria has saved over N216 billion from the importation of rice alone from Thailand and other countries since the nation’s domestic mass production flooded the markets under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).

    Prince Niyi Akenzua, the Executive Director, Risk Management and Finance, Bank of Agriculture (BOA) disclosed on Thursday in Ibadan when he visited Gov. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State.

    The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that Akenzua had led some other officials of the bank on the visit to the state.

    He said that the figure represented a fraction of a staggering $22 billion (N7.92trillion) spent on importation of foods into the country annually prior to the advent of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

    Akenzua said it was worthy of commendation that the country had committed itself to diversifying from oil economy, with emphasis on revitalisation of agriculture.

    He said he had embarked on advocacy visit around the country to enlist the support and involvement of state governments in ABP, which freed the country from reliance on importation of rice.

    “We enjoin Oyo State to participate in the ABP as we have remodelled the programme to expand the scope of beneficiaries.

    “The pilot scheme was so successful that $600m was saved from rice importation due to massive rice production in the country.

    “One or two rice millers in Thailand have closed down because Nigeria, which has always been their major importer, has stopped importing their rice.

    “We used to spend $22 billion importing food into Nigeria and with our consciousness that every square meter in the country is arable land.

    “We felt that it was not sustainable. Of course, the crash in crude oil price has forced us back to agriculture,’’ he said.

    Akenzua said that the state could choose a particular crop to produce under the programme, with a promise to co-fund or fund the production of such crop.

    Ajimobi in his remarks commended the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh for the positive changes he had brought into the agriculture sector since he assumed duties at the ministry.

    The governor stated that the fundamental problem besetting the country was attitudinal, stressing that the country was not bereft of knowledge, policies and programmes capable of enhancing its economy.

    Ajimobi said that the state was supposed to be the food basket of the nation if past leaders had seen agriculture as a major solution to unemployment, hunger and economic driver.

    According to him, the state is in good stead to be a major agric hub, judging by the concentration of reputable research institutions in the state and its vast arable land.

    “The state is also strategically located between Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of the country and the North among other comparative advantages.”

    He advised the new management of BOA to do all that is humanly possible to sustain the momentum in its renewed drive to revitalise the agriculture sector.

    “You need to change the attitude of our people so they will know that there is money in agriculture.

    “We are in this sorry state today because of bureaucracy and lack of sustenance of past agric policies. What has happened to Operation Feed the Nation?

    “Don’t just talk the talk, walk the talk. In the past, some people will just give loans to themselves, which they knew they would not recover and this had crippled the bank.”

    The governor stated that the state was ready to take advantage of all opportunities available in agriculture to promote the standard of living of its people.

    The governor promised to lead by example by also venturing into commercial agriculture, urging the BOA team to advise him on how he could go about obtaining a loan for the purpose.

  • Fed Govt plans N1tr capital base for Bank of Agriculture

    Fed Govt plans N1tr capital base for Bank of Agriculture

    •Lender to begin deposit taking

    The Federal Govern-ment is planning to capitalize Bank of Agriculture with N1 trillion ($3.2 billion) and will allow the lender to take deposits.

    The move becomes exigent as Nigeria seeks to boost farming output and reduce food imports.

    “We are looking at N25 million farmers” as stakeholders or depositors, Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Audu Ogbeh told Bloomberg in Abuja.  “We are probably going to take a major step by the end of this year, and by February, March, have a structure in place for the changes we want to carry out,” he said.

    Nigeria’s economy contracted in the first nine months of the year as output of oil, the government’s main source of revenue, dropped due to attacks by militant groups on pipelines in the Niger River delta and prices remained low.

    Farming, which mostly consists of crops including cocoa, accounts for more than 25 percent of gross domestic product, and has expanded every quarter of 2016, while factory output and mining, which includes the oil industry, shrank, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

    The Bank of Agriculture will start lending for farming projects at an interest rate of less than 10 percent, or less than half of commercial market rates, Ogbeh said.

    The bank, created in 1972 to provide credit and technical support to farming projects, lent at least N41 billion to 600 businesses across Nigeria over 10 years, according to information on its website.

    “It’s good to invest in the bank, but they should ensure they have proper management to improve its performance and efficiency,” Musa Tarimbuka, the division head for agriculture at Fidelity Bank Plc, said by phone. “They have disbursed a lot of money over the past 40 years, and the non-performing loans are very high.”

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) kept its benchmark rate unchanged at 14 per cent on November 24 as it seeks to support an economy forecast by the International Monetary Fund to contract 1.7 percent this year.

    It’s also trying to curb inflation, which quickened to an 11-year high of 18.3 percent in October. Food prices rose 17.1 per cent from a year earlier, partly due to the high price of imported food after the naira lost almost 40 per cent of its value against the dollar following the abandonment of a currency peg in June.

    The government plans to distribute 110 rice mills across the country over the next two months at a subsidy of 40 per cent, Ogbeh said. These measures will help boost production and reduce food imports, which were worth about 1.2 trillion naira last year, according to statistics bureau data, he said.

  • Bank of Agriculture should look into our case

    SIR: I write in respect of the N150,000 loan taken from the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) in 2007. The loan was obtained at eight percent interest rate to plant cassava. The cassava project was unsuccessful

    due to late planting and low price at harvest. My creditor-the BOA branch at Ikare Akoko has taken me and others in my shoe to court with our indebtedness calculated at 17% interest rate. The branch claims it has power to vary/increare interest rate.

    Now, some of us want to pay back the loan but the bank is making this impossible by putting heavy load on our heads in insisting that repayment must not exceed 12 months with interest rate at 17% per year. I have emailed and called the BOA headquarters many times without response.

    As a poverty alleviation agency financed and regulated by the federal goverment, BOA should make loan repayment fair to poor Nigerians. The BOA Headqtarters should speak out so that Nigerians can know its loan repayment policy.

    • Osesanmi Tobi,

    Ikare Akoko, Ondo State.