Oyo State Government has approved a ₦1 billion loan facility for all categories of farmers in the state, but only genuine farmers will benefit from it, an official has said.
The Executive Chairman, Agricultural Credit Corporation of Oyo State (ACCOS), Alhaji Taofeek Akeugbagold, told newsmen on Thursday in Ibadan that the facility is a single-digit interest loan facility.
“This is to enable beneficiaries to expand their farming businesses and enhance the attraction of potential investors into the farming value chain,” he said.
Akeugbagold said the scheme, which is to be supervised by ACCOS, is under the Sustainable Actions for Economic Recovery (SAfER) programme.
“It is to be disbursed to all interested farmers across the 33 local government areas (LGAs) of the state so as to improve food security,” he said.
The ACCOS Executive Chairman noted that this was happening because the present administration in the state was committed to reforming the farming sector with notable programmes such as SAfER and others.
He explained that the loan facility would focus on the smallholder farmers, who bear the burden of feeding the teeming population.
“This set of farmers account for about 90 per cent of the farmers' population and thus responsible for about 95 per cent of the aggregate food and fibre production in the state.”
Akeugbagold further said the scheme would bring more stability to developing the agricultural sector and provide an enabling environment for the development of agricultural businesses in the state.
Speaking on modalities for the loan’s assessment, the executive chairman said: “The loan will be disbursed and recouped by micro-finance banks (MFBs) which are governed by the regulations of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“To access the loan, each intending beneficiary who must have been duly registered with the State Ministry of Agriculture will bring a guarantor, who is a civil servant on grade level 7 and above.”
He assured that the scheme would be non-partisan “as it shall be for the generality of the legitimate farmers of Oyo State.
“Also, the exercise shall be in phases as all areas of agriculture such as crop, fishery, livestock, piggery, among others, shall be captured and fully integrated into the programme.”
The ACCOS executive chairman warned that intending beneficiaries of the loan should not see the scheme as a national cake but rather as a revolving fund.
Corroborating Akeugbagold‘s assertion, the ACCOS General Manager, Emmanuel Ogundiran, said the modalities in giving out the loan were going to be exactly as enshrined in the corporation’s loan conditions.
Ogundiran, who said he could not give the actual number of intending beneficiaries for now, said the corporation has divided the entire state into seven zones for ease of administration.
He said ACCOS would soon commence a sensitisation campaign in all the zones to create awareness among the farmers on how to process the loan.