The Federal Government says it is considering a low interest lending rate regime for farmers in the country
President Goodluck Jonathan said this on Tuesday in Abuja at the 19th National Economic Summit and the inauguration of the Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP).
The Tide reports that the programme seeks to eliminate the constraints to youth participation in agro business in the country.
The theme of the 19th Economic Summit is, “Growing Agriculture as a Business to Diversify Nigeria’s Economy’’.
A team headed by the Finance Minister is working on how government will link up with the private sector and the Central Bank to make sure that farmers get loans at very low interest rate.
The president commended the effort of the Central Bank of Nigeria in extending its lending to the agric sector, assuring that government would continue to develop innovative financing mechanism to make agricultural lending more affordable.
Jonathan, who also inaugurated the young Nigerian farmers at the summit, applauded the effort of the youth who ventured into agriculture out of interest.
I am convinced that agriculture as a business holds a bright future for our country, especially for the youth. “Unemployment among our youths is one of the biggest challenges; the time has come to create jobs and laid a good foundation for Nigeria’s economic growth, he said.
There is a need to get younger farmers, especially young graduates and school leavers, to take on agriculture as a business.
“I am excited that a lot of young people now see agriculture as a viable business opportunity; the panel of young business men and women that we just listened to has clearly demonstrated that the future of Nigerian agriculture is indeed bright. In order to encourage our young people, and to create a NEW cadre of young, dynamic and entrepreneurial commercial farmers in agro business, the Minister Agriculture has developed YEAP,’’ he said.
According to him, the programme over the next five years will see the emergence of young graduates and school leavers across the geo political zones into commercial farming and agro business.
“They will be called NAGROPRENEURS; these people through their businesses will create jobs for hundreds of thousands of Nigerian youths. To these young people, I say, you are the leaders of tomorrow and your leadership in training starts from today,’’ he said.
The president urged youths in the country to key into the opportunity to develop their skills and become commercial agro dealers in all areas of agriculture.
He said that administration would revolutionalised the sector, adding that ‘’days are gone when farmers are seen as poor people in the society.’’
Jonathan said that government would continue to accept recommendations from the summit group to help boost the economy, adding that a framework had been created for the National Planning Commission to forward such recommendations to the Federal Executive Council for implementation by Ministries, Department and Agencies.
The president said that the objective of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda was to turn about 20 million metric tonnes of food to the domestic food supply and to create about 3. 5 million jobs for the young people.
He said that the goal of government was to use agriculture as the spring board for Nigeria’s industrialisation.
Jonathan said that the rice revolution in 10 states in the dry season was a demonstration that if the farmers were well supported, they could feed the whole nation and beyond.
“Our target is to become self-sufficient in rice production by 2015 and 2016,’’ he said.