Researcher Urges Review Of Agro-Dealers Finance Policies

A researcher at the Nige
rian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), Prof. Aderibigbe Olomola, has urged the Federal Government to review agro-dealers finance policies in order to address their challenges.
Olomola made the call in Abuja on Thursday during a seminar on ‘’Business Operations of Agro-dealers and their Participation in the Loan Market in Nigeria’’ involving 48 participants.
He explained that the agro-dealers financing policies needed the involvement of Bank of Agriculture (BOA), private sector, importers and major distributors to enable it tackle its financial hurdles.
‘’BOA is not serving (financing) agro-dealers and this has to be reviewed. In terms of bridging financial gaps, there is a need for internal and external finance sourcing.
Olomola also advised that the Federal Government should put in place a policy to curb the activities of agro-dealers’ black market.
He observed that subsidy exit strategy and sustainable agro-dealership financing was also a major area to look at in terms of policy review.
Olomola explained that there was a need for sustainable plans for markets for agro-dealers after the expiration of the Growth Enhancement Support scheme in 2015.
‘’The equity capital of agro-dealers and finance from informal sources are grossly inadequate to bridge the financing gaps and cannot be relied upon for the development of a modern and competitive agro-input market, he said.
According to him, finance must flow from the banking sector which is expected to be catalysed through the instrumentality of the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL)and from the importers, distributors and suppliers of inputs in form of value chain financing.
The Tide reports that NIRSAL is a dynamic, holistic approach that tackles both the agricultural value chain and the agricultural financing value chain.
It enables banks to lend with confidence to the sector and encourages banks to lend to the agricultural value chain by offering them strong incentives and technical assistance.
In his remarks, Dr Sule Ochai, representing the Ministry of Agriculture, said that the ministry was working on a number of projects to tackle the constraints of agro-dealers under the Federal Government’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda.
The participants were made up of researchers, civil servants and policy makers in the agricultural industry.