Farmers need support to thrive

I want to use this opportunity to call on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, to set aside a certain sum of money to support small scale agricultural firms in the country.

The CBN boss should also order commercial banks to lend at single digit rates to agricultural businesses.

Every year, we hear of billions of naira allocated to support the agricultural sector, but practising farmers don’t get to access these funds, as only ‘political’ farmers corner the funds.

Agriculture needs funds to thrive in the country, but if loans come in double digits, then farmers will not be able to access such, since repaying will eat deeply into the profits.

Consequently, the CBN governor should compel banks to provide single digit interest loans for agriculture businesses, while those who are not real farmers should not have access to CBN’s intervention funds for farmers.

• Yakub Aishat,

Kaduna.