April 5, 2018

The Agriculture  and Allied Employees Union of Nigeria (AAEUN)  has  called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to  include land clearing in its  Anchor Borrowers Scheme.

The Chairman of  AAEUN in Kwara,  Mr David Ehindero, who made the call in Ilorin on Thursday, said farmland clearing  constitutes  about 50 percent  of   expenses incurred  by farmers.

Ehindero  who  commended the apex bank for initiating  the scheme, said  many farmers in the state are beneficiaries.

“This scheme is one major initiative put in place by the Federal Government  which has direct impact on farmers in the country.

“There has been visible improvement and people have developed more interest in farming since the inception of the scheme.

“The Development Funds Office (DFO) of the CBN is doing well, but timely release of funds is very important because agriculture is about season.

“We also discovered that the scheme does not cover land clearing, it only covers cultivation. We want the DFO to consider capturing farmland clearing which covers 50 per cent of farming expenses,” he said.

Also speaking, the Chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Mr Tajudeen Ajibola, commended the CBN for the initiative.

“About 800 farmers’ cooperative societies are undergoing documentation for the programme.

“We are sure that the loans will be released soon, but we don’t know the exact number of beneficiaries for now,” he said.

The Chairman of Kwara Youths Integrated Farmers, Mr Mumini Onimago, expressed gratitude to  the government for the initiative  and called for supply of more agricultural inputs to enhance productivity.

Onimago also appealed to government  at all levels  to lend support in the area of storage facilities for the success of the Off Takers Scheme.