Mr Richard Ogundele, an expert in agriculture, has advised the Federal Government to increase loans to farmers under the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers Programme to achieve food sufficiency in Nigeria.
Ogundele gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Friday.
He said that the increasing loans to farmers would boost local participation in agriculture, achieve import substitution and reduce unemployment.
Ogundele is the Group Intervention Manager for Growth and Employment in states (GEMS4), a project financed by the World Bank and UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) in Nigeria.
The CBN Anchor Borrowers Programme, launched on Nov. 17, 2015, seeks to create economic linkage between over 600, 000 smallholder farmers and large scale processors to increased agricultural output and capacity utilisation of processors.
The CBN had set aside N40 billion from the N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund to finance this programme for farmers to access at single-digit interest rate of nine per cent.
According to Ogundele, increased funding and effective implementation of the policy will assist Nigeria to meet its food production self-sufficiency target for some commodities.
“We target 2018 for rice production self-sufficiency; we cannot continue to shift the goal post, but if we do not do the right thing, we will keep extending the target date.
“As more state governments and stakeholders are embracing agriculture, we should increase finance and ensure that access to affordable funds is made easy.
“Government should ensure that the off take agreement between smallholder farmers and processors are properly achieved to ensure sustainability of the scheme.
“They should ensure easy and prompt access to farm inputs at affordable prices, adequate training for farmers and effective monitoring of the process to checkmate discrepancies,” he said.
Ogundele also called for improved roads and transport facilities within farming areas to ease movement of labour and goods which was usually difficult during raining season and peak farming period.
He urged government to strengthen research institutes and extension services, provide quality seedlings and improve manual system of production to mechanised method.
Ogundele said effective enforcement of policies regulating smuggling and importation of commodities would boost local production, prosperity and job creation for the people. (NAN)