By Chukwuka Ugokwe :
Anambra State Ministry of Agriculture through the Agricultural Development Programme(ADP) has opened up strategic partnership discussions with some financial institutions to provide credit facilities to boost cultivation of horticultural crops.
Rising from an interactive session with representatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, NIRSAL and Zenith Banks with Farmers under the Small Holder Horticultural Empowerment Programme (SHEP) it explored various financing windows as a way of continuing to key into government’s agricultural agenda.
Speaking during the meeting held at the Ministry’s ADP Hall, Awka, the Programme Manager, Agricultural Development Programme, Mr Jude Nwankwo, explained that the event was staged to connect interested farmers in two key areas of bitter leaf (Onugwu) and pumpkin leaf (Ugu) cultivation to sources of credit.
“We want to actually bring the banks closer to the farmers. You know credit facility is very important to farmers to enable them cultivate more and then make more money to improve their living.
“We have started the SHEP Project in two pilot locations,Nimo and Oraukwu Communities, hoping to up scale to Isuofia, Ogbunka, Nawfija by next year. The target of the programme is mostly dry season production”
While urging farmers to take ownership of the opportunity, he called on the banks to consider the provision of loan facilities to the farmers in order to improve their sources of income and eradicate hunger.
Representative of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Sunday Ugwu, said they have a plethora of loan products for farmers, even as they continued to work with commercial banks and Micro Finance banks to bring the much financing to horticulturists in the state.
According to him, they intervene by providing warranty cover to the farmers, and every loan duration is determined by the gestation period of such crop or livestock.
MS Ifeoma Ofojebe of Zenith Bank, reasoned that there are dangers in chasing after farmers with offer of loan when they were not keen on it, noting that they would only advance loan facilities to those who need them, otherwise the risk of defaulting would be high and could put staff and businesses in trouble.
A Representative of NIRSAL, Mr Uzoma Uzoma, advised SHEP team members to work together and produce the economics of production with which banks could be approached to draw up a custom package for them.
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