The Osun Microcredit Agency on Wednesday disbursed N5 million as loans to cassava farmers in the state.
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The farmers, who were divided into 25 groups, were drawn from Irewole and Isokan local government areas of the state.
Each group was given a N200,000 cheque to boost cassava production.
Mr Dayo Babaranti,the Director of the agency, while presenting the cheques to the farmers in Osogbo, urged them to use the loan to boost cassava production in the state.
Babaranti said the state government carried out an appraisal on the farmland of the beneficiaries before the loans were given to them.
” We did a thorough exercise to ensure that the right farmers get the loan in order to boast cassava production in the state.
” All these effort by the state government is to ensure that the state has abundant food for its citizenry,” he said.
Babaranti also said that the state government through the agency recently gave N2.2 million in loans to tomato farmers in the state.
He said government was also planning to give to give loans to cocoa farmers in the state.
Babaranti said Gov. Adegboyega Oyetola would continue to support farmers in the state to boost food production.
Beneficiaries of the loan commended the state government and Osun Microcredit Agency for their support to farmers in the state.
Mr Jemilohun Olawale, one of the beneficiaries, said his group would ensure that the loan was not diverted for personal purpose.
Olawale, who noted that cassava production was crucial to livelihood due to its numerous products, said farmers would not disappoint government in boosting cassava production in the state.