An agriculturist has emphasised the need for the Nigerian
government to overhaul the Bank of Agriculture, with the aim of making
it more capable of supporting farmers
Mr Shedrack Madlion said that the overhaul would enable farmers get
the needed finance for modern day farming applications and tools that
would improve yields.
“There should be an overhaul of the Agric Bank. At the moment, it does not have the compatible technology to support farmers. The Agric Bank has lost touch in how to take today modern agric application and financing to the farmers. When resources are provided for farmers, they give it to commercial banks,” he said.
Mr Madlion further urged the government to focus more on policy making and regulation in the Agricultural sector to enable the Agriculture contribute more to the nation’s economy.
He said the government had involved itself so much in agriculture than it should, insisting the government had no business in the distribution of fertilizer and other farm produce.
In 2014 Nigeria’s Agricultural sector contributed about 46.6 trillion Naira (about $245 billion) to the GDP, but Mr Madlion believes that the sector can contribute more if needed support would be given to farmers.
He said each community in Nigeria had the potential of producing an exportable crop.
In the last few years, the Nigerian government has focused on making agriculture business, empowering farmers with mobile phones and providing them information about availability of fertilizer and seedlings.
But Mr Madlion thinks more should be done.
“We are giving the impression that it is business. Get people to be involved in agriculture and remove government from it.
“We should not have the impression that all is well and then build on nothing. With the new government, we should look at how we should make agriculture a business.
“The government’s duty should be to put in standardisation, check animals, for instance to be sure they are fit for consumption before they are slaughtered. The government should get its hands off agriculture,” he said.
On the issue of funding, which has affected the chances of farmers across Nigeria to increase yields, Mr Madlion stressed that if 20 per cent of the amount of money said to have been injected into the Agriculture sector got to the farmers, it would go a long way in increasing yield.
“So many of the resources are being pronounced but the money does not get to the farmers.
“The CBN must have monetary and evaluation unit to monitor all agric debts of all our banks.
“There should be an overhaul of the Agric Bank. At the moment, it does not have the compatible technology to support farmers. The Agric Bank has lost touch in how to take today modern agric application and financing to the farmers. When resources are provided for farmers, they give it to commercial banks.
“Commercial banks also run away from lending to the farmers because of the cost of monitoring the loan,” he said.
The agriculturist also suggested that Micro Finance Banks should be segmented to handle different aspect of the Agricultural sector.
He also stressed the need for the government to provide good roads and improve the rail system to get to the rural areas where farmers live.
“There should be an overhaul of the Agric Bank. At the moment, it does not have the compatible technology to support farmers. The Agric Bank has lost touch in how to take today modern agric application and financing to the farmers. When resources are provided for farmers, they give it to commercial banks,” he said.
Mr Madlion further urged the government to focus more on policy making and regulation in the Agricultural sector to enable the Agriculture contribute more to the nation’s economy.
He said the government had involved itself so much in agriculture than it should, insisting the government had no business in the distribution of fertilizer and other farm produce.
In 2014 Nigeria’s Agricultural sector contributed about 46.6 trillion Naira (about $245 billion) to the GDP, but Mr Madlion believes that the sector can contribute more if needed support would be given to farmers.
He said each community in Nigeria had the potential of producing an exportable crop.
In the last few years, the Nigerian government has focused on making agriculture business, empowering farmers with mobile phones and providing them information about availability of fertilizer and seedlings.
But Mr Madlion thinks more should be done.
“We are giving the impression that it is business. Get people to be involved in agriculture and remove government from it.
“We should not have the impression that all is well and then build on nothing. With the new government, we should look at how we should make agriculture a business.
“The government’s duty should be to put in standardisation, check animals, for instance to be sure they are fit for consumption before they are slaughtered. The government should get its hands off agriculture,” he said.
On the issue of funding, which has affected the chances of farmers across Nigeria to increase yields, Mr Madlion stressed that if 20 per cent of the amount of money said to have been injected into the Agriculture sector got to the farmers, it would go a long way in increasing yield.
“So many of the resources are being pronounced but the money does not get to the farmers.
“The CBN must have monetary and evaluation unit to monitor all agric debts of all our banks.
“There should be an overhaul of the Agric Bank. At the moment, it does not have the compatible technology to support farmers. The Agric Bank has lost touch in how to take today modern agric application and financing to the farmers. When resources are provided for farmers, they give it to commercial banks.
“Commercial banks also run away from lending to the farmers because of the cost of monitoring the loan,” he said.
The agriculturist also suggested that Micro Finance Banks should be segmented to handle different aspect of the Agricultural sector.
He also stressed the need for the government to provide good roads and improve the rail system to get to the rural areas where farmers live.