Akeem Aderibigbe
The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has said that the Central Bank of Nigeria will launch and anchor Borrowes Finance Initiative, a program that will help farmers in the country to finance and fund agricultural development that will set a pace for agricultural revolution.
Osinbajo said this at a meeting with a delegation of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, and the Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria, alongside Kebbi Gov. Atiku Bagudu.
The vice president praised rice and wheat farmers, saying “farmers are among the most important people in Nigeria today.”
He added that the President’s action also “showed he had a clear idea of how to execute a formidable agricultural policy.”
According to Osinbajo, “the President said it throughout the campaigns that pursuing an active agriculture policy in rice and wheat would be important”.
Earlier, Gov. Bagudu observed that the political will of the Buhari presidency in supporting rice and wheat farmers is “energising,” the agricultural sector, raising the esteem of the farmers and heightening productivity.
He said that Nigeria would be self-sufficient in rice production under two years and in wheat within three years.
In their remarks, the presidents of both associations expressed satisfaction with the support rice and wheat farmers are now receiving from the Federal Government.
According to Malam Aminu Goronyo, the President of the Rice Farmers Association, before the coming of the Buhari presidency, “farmers in Nigeria were considered useless people on the streets, but now farmers are kings.”
As a proof, he said that banks were now soliciting farmers to open accounts, even offering banking services on the farms.
He added that people were also offering farmers credit lines for purchases.
“We have not been having this kind of respect before, we have become kings today,” Goronyo stated.
The President of the Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria, Malam Saleh Mohammed, said many rice farmers were also wheat farmers, adding that the productivity level of both sets of farmers had already gone up.
Share this
