Food Production: FG Injects N1.5 Trn Into Bank Of Agriculture
The year 2025 is expected to be full of activities for the agricultural sector following President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s approval of N1.5 trillion for the Bank of Agriculture to finance agricultural production in the country.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, who announced this when he received the delegation of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Abuja on Wednesday, described the “huge amount” as a “game changer” that’s never happened in the history of the country’s agriculture.
“I’m happy to announce, and which was passed by the National Assembly and also accepted to by Mr. President, the provision of N1.5 trillion to the Bank of Agriculture, which is equivalent to about a billion dollars in 2025. That would be the game-changer, I believe, in terms of financing. I’m not sure if it has happened in recent times, that huge amount of money to be given to the Bank of Agriculture,” he said.
Kyari added that agri-processing and businesses will also benefit from the N500bn, which is about $300bn, made available to the Bank of Industry.
“We’ve identified agriculture as a priority in the financial sector, and
we hope to leverage the Nigerian banking sector, and we’ll create dedicated agri-financing facilities with first-law cover to encourage the banks to take more risks in this regard. This will be accompanied by capacity building at the bank level, and also at the sub-borrower level, given the importance of agriculture, for employment, food security, access to finance and inclusion,” the minister stated.
He appealed to the European Bank to invest in Nigeria significantly to help the country achieve its target, particularly by addressing issues of postharvest losses, irrigation facilities, poor yields and other aspects of the sector.
In her response, the EBRD Managing Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, Dr. Heike Harmgart, said the bank team was in the ministry after Nigeria become a shareholder recently in order to identify areas of investment across the various sectors of the economy.
“As you’ve seen, your ministry is very popular with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, because we feel food security is at the heart of not just the development of a country but also, given the enormous potentials of Nigeria, for economic growth and jobs. So, at the EBRD, we are a bank that supports the private and public sectors across the whole food value chain,” she said.
Dr Hamgart said EBRD will work with the local banks to develop financing products for the agricultural sector.
She said the bank is set to open its office in Lagos, Nigeria, adding that “We’re also looking to hire talented Nigerians working across all the sectors of the economy, as well as learning from the different ministries’ priorities, because we hope to present to our board the proposal to make Nigeria a country we can invest in at our annual meeting in May.”
DAILYTRUST
