NACRDB Loans: Farmers Decry Role Of Insurance Coys

Farmers who benefitted from the Nigeria Agricultural Cooperative and Rural Development Bank (NACRDB) loans in Oyo State have decried the role of insurance companies in the empowerment initiative.

The Financial Secretary of the Catfish Farmers Association of Nigeria (CAFAN), Mrs Modupe Kolade, told newsmen in  Ibadan on Thursday that insurance companies were unhelpful to farmers in the exercise.

She argued that despite the mandatory payment of two percent of the loan by beneficiaries to insurance companies, the issue of who insures the crops was till unclear.

“When we have problems with the crops, the insurance people are not helpful at all.

“If there is any problem, they bring up serious conditions and they back out all of a sudden,” she said.

Kolade appealed to banks to convene a forum of stakeholders to outline the actual roles of insurance companies in the initiative.

“ If the banks can help us to make the insurance people more active and interested in our business, we can clinch a better deal on our loan and we will repay,” she said.

She commended NACRDB for assisting farmers with loans, saying the eight per cent interest rate was moderate.