THE Rice Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), South West Zonal Coordinator MrSegunAtho has advised its members of the association to take advantage of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s N20 billion loans to boost their rice productions in Lagos recently.
The coordinator, who decried the activities of some commercial banks for demanding many documents from farmers, thereby making it difficult for them to access the loan, revealed that that the banks were asking the farmers to tender their Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) and others before they could access the loan.
Atho bemoaned that not all rice farmers are accessing the loans because there are some banks that are not agriculture friendly as many rice farmers are still complaining that the commercial banks are still requesting for C of Os.
Atho said that N20 billion out of the N200 billion loan approved by the Federal Government was meant for rice farmers to develop the agriculture sector and recalled that part of the loan had already been accessed by farmers in Kebbi and Kano States.
The Coordinator who expressed optimism that farmers from other states would access the credit facility soon, reiterated that with the launching of the agriculture loans and farmers in Kebbi and Kano States accessing it, he believe rice production can move forward in the country.
Atho educates its members that the CBN can give a loan of between N150 million and N250 million to farmers that are producing food items and that twenty billion naira has been set aside as loan to rice farmers out of N200 billion earmarked for the sector by the Federal Government. We believe it will soon cut across all states,” Atho said.