FG has sought the approval of the National Assembly for a $1.2 billion loan which is intended to fix the value chain in Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, made this known yesterday at the budget defense of the Ministry of Finance at the House of Representatives. The Minister also disclosed that the loan would be financed by the Brazilian Government. The projects will be financed by the ‘Green Imperative’ program, a $1.2 billion joint Nigerian-Brazilian agriculture development scheme.
Earlier in June, the Federal Government revealed plans to develop 142 agro-processing centers across the six geopolitical zones in the country.
The Finance Minister stated the necessity for Nigeria to address the issues of its food value chain as the country expands its sources of revenue asides oil.
She said: ‘We need to address issues in the agriculture value chain as the country moves towards other sources of revenue. Already, the federal government is making efforts to acquire 100,000 hectares of land per state for food production.’
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‘Roads will be built in such locations to provide access for farm inputs and ease the movement of farm produce to the markets. If the farmers can move their farm produce to markets, it will reduce post-harvest losses,’ Zainab added.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had previously revealed in September that there is the need for Nigeria to increase its bank credit level to the agricultural sector by over 50% within the next 4 years to boost food production.
Peace Omenka
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