The federal government plans to reorganise and recapitalise the Bank of Agriculture by the first quarter of 2025 to enhance food security.
Speaking during a briefing at the State House, yesterday, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, addressed the House in Abuja and highlighted the need to strengthen the institution that supports smallholder farmers.
“I also missed out on the reorganisation and recapitalisation of the Bank of Agriculture.
It’s in the process, and very soon, within the first quarter of this year, you will see a report outlining the reorganisation and recapitalisation of the Bank of Agriculture.
Bank of Agriculture has branches in all 109 senatorial districts and can reach out quickly to those farmers.
“What we are saying is the smallholder farmer lacks capital. So we have written to some banks and are also reorganising the Bank of Agriculture to support what the government is doing in the sense of public financing in the budgets and what have you.
“The budget alone cannot support agriculture, but we must look at development partners. We’re very excited; we’re happy with the development partners. Case in point, IFAD, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, is a United Nations Rome-based organisation,” Kyari said.
The minister also announced progress in the government’s mechanisation initiative, revealing that 85 equipment containers, including over 200 tractors, had already arrived. The package comprises 2,000 tractors, 9,000 implements, 10 large combined harvesters, and 12 mobile service vehicles for equipment maintenance.
“Yesterday, I think while some of the members were with me, we had to call the agents, and they told us that 85 containers have arrived, and they are coming almost every week. Therefore, if you interpolate, every container takes about three tractors, so do the calculations. So we’re looking at about 200 and something tractors that have arrived.
“But the commitment is not how much we have now. When will you give us the 2,000 with all the 9,000 implements? Because there will be 9,000 implements.
“Every tractor will have a plough, a harrow, a seeder, and a boom sprayer. We also have trailers, but instead of 2,000, there will be 1,200 because trailers do not spoil quickly.
“We also have 10 combined harvesters of 330 horsepower… able to do about one and a half hectares per hour. You can do only 10 hectares in one day, like 13 football fields.
“We also have service vehicles, about 12 service vehicles that will come. It’s a mobile workshop… placed in all these areas that we will have those tractors,” Kyari stated.
The Minister commended the emphasis on security in the 2025 budget, noting that improved security had reopened farmlands previously inaccessible due to terrorism and banditry.
He cited examples from the states of Borno and Katsina, where significant progress has been made.
“My local government before now was not even accessible to farmers, but there is one place where, along the river as long as 18 kilometres, they did a bumper harvest of rice in the dry season last year.
“Katsina State has reported an improvement of almost 70% in security that has opened up farmland for our farmers.
“So it’s not as if we are to support every smallholder farmer. No country can do that. But what we are saying is we are also exposing our smallholder farmers to the issue of having access to funding and credit,” Kyari said.
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