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FG offers N2b loan for commercial farming in Kwara
The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN ), Dr. Godwin Emefiele has announced that the bank has decided to supplement the foreign investment of Valentine chickens, a subsidiary of Shonga Farms Holdings Limited in Kwara State with a loan of N2billion Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme.
Dr. Emefiele who said the loan attracts a single digit interest rate of 9%, stated that Kwara State has a comparative advantage in poultry business making it necessary to support the management and owners of Valentine Farms whose business, he said, has provided employment for a lot of unemployed youths in the State.
The Apex Bank Governor who disclosed this at the weekend during a working visit to Shonga Farms in Edu Local Government Area of Kwara State, said the loan is meant to support value chain in chicken production in the farms with a potential of employing more hundreds of youths.
Dr Emefiele, in company of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Abdullah Adam and the kwara State Governor, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed, expressed satisfaction that critical sectors in the farms are being managed by Nigerians.
He praised the State Government for the initiative describing it as an example of a successful collaboration with foreign direct investors that created employment in the agro-allied business in the country.
Earlier, the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki thanked the CBN for supporting commercial agriculture in the state and assured the foreign investors that lawmakers will give support to agro-allied related business in the country through appropriate laws in order to create more employment opportunities for growing youth population in the country.
The state governor, Dr Abdulfatah Ahmed assured the CBN Governor that Kwara State is adequately positioned to champion commercial agriculture revolution in the country.
He added that his administration has established an Off-taker Demand Driven Scheme based on the lessons learnt from the Shonga model as a means of empowering farmers, creating jobs and establishing Kwara State as a major agriculture hub in the country.
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