BOI, commended over single digit agric loans to farmers

Olabode Adaramola

The Bank of Industry has been commended for contributing immensely to the Agricultural policy of the Federal Government by giving out loans to farmers at. a single digit interest rate to Nigerians who are into Agriculture business and farmers alike.

The Chairman, Tractors Owners Association of Nigeria, Niger State chapter, Hon. Bala Adamu Kuta, gave the commendation in an interaction with the newsmen over the weekend in Minna, Niger State capital.

He stated further that if the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) should make it compulsory for other commercial banks in the country to follow the good example laid by the Bank of Industry (BOI) to do the same thing, in order to encourage more Nigerians to go into agriculture business so that the nation could achieve self-sufficiency in food and cash crops production as well as exporting agricultural products to other African countries both at the sub-regional and continental levels.

According to Hon. Kuta, a former member of the House of Representatives, from Niger State between 1999 and 2007, since the policy of the incumbent administration at the Centre focuses much on Agriculture, but they cannot do that successfully , if the real farmers , not political farmers who goes to the farms to cultivate the crops are paying two digits interest on loans he or she obtained to do the farming.

He described political farmers as those Nigerians who go and collect farm implements and keep it at home, but going about and boasting that they are farmers while such people were busy playing politics with such implements.

‘If the government at the federal and state levels really want to help the citizenry who are genuine agro business people or farmers, there is the need for us to sit down with the government to tell them the areas of needs of the farmers. And what is the areas of needs of the farmers, the areas of needs is the interest rate, because the farmers acquired loans through commercial banks and the interest rate is too high’, he stated.

He insisted that if the government is serious about its agricultural policy of sufficiency food production by the citizenry, that there is an urgent need for government to come in particularly in the areas of interest rate being paid by the farmers to commercial banks presently in the country.

‘We are very much happy that presently, the BOI has come with full force to declare a single digit interest on loan and that is very encouraging.

‘If all commercial banks in Nigeria, for the purpose of agriculture , all banks would be forced to charge single digit interest on loans for farmers, the country will go a long way to succeed in abundant food production because everybody will be encouraged to acquire not only loans, but farm implements such ad Tractors , spare. Parts seedlings and even pesticides if all these things should go with single digit interest rate in the banks.

‘If it is authenticated and confirmed that the borrowers are going for agriculture , they should be given the loans at a single digit interest rate,’ said Bala Kuta.

Speaking further, he cited an example of a World Bank agency presently operating in the country, which is interested in cultivating Sorghum particularly in Niger state and in some other states of the federation, saying they got sorghum seedlings on loan and they give it to the farmers equally on loan, but not any other thing inclusive.

It is through that cultivation for the first year that they are now going to determine whether the beneficiaries of the seedlings are serious farmers or not.

Consequently, he said, by the time you focused so much on it and make sure that you are very serious with it that they will come and assist you the following year as a father.

He said if Nigerians were to get out of the present economic doldrums, that they should invest seriously on agricultural production in order to achieve food sufficiency.

Kuta , stressed that if the claims that only 3percent of America’s population are farmers and they are able to feed America and the world, he said he is very sure if Nigerians are able to get the required farm implements and other farm input, that Nigerians can also feed themselves and even the rest of the people of other African countries.