Agriculture

$1bn AFDB Fund: Kwara AAEUN tasks govt  on implementation 

 

The Kwara State branch of Agricultural and Allied Employees’ Union of Nigeria (AAEUN) has called on the three tiers of government in the country to ensure implementation of the $1billion support proposed by the Africa Development Bank (AFDB).
The AFDB had last week announced its plan to support Nigeria’s  agricultural sector with $1billion .
The state Chairman of the association, Dr. David Kayode Enhindero made the call  on Tuesday while suggesting ways on how to boost agricultural development in the country.
He said, ” A lot of financial support has been given to the agricultural sector, which   didn’t yield positive results in the past. It is important for all tiers of government to ensure that the support goes directly to genuine practitioners.
“The anchored borrowers’ scheme by the Central Bank of Nigeria is a huge investment and I want to call on the state and local governments to support this AFDB initiative to make agricultural produces available everywhere.
“I want to call on the Kwara State government to support this scheme so that we can maximise the potentials we have in agriculture. We have enough land and Nigeria alone should be able to feed the rest of the world if we get things right, ” he added.
Enhindero who noted that the AFDB support is a positive initiative, advised government to ensure that the scheme achieve its aim.
He said ” we want the management of the bank to ensure that the project is properly monitored so that Nigerian factor will not affect it. If you examine critically  the agricultural sector, you will observe that there is a lot of noise on the paper about agricultural budgeting without proper execution.
“Most of the agricultural budget is aiding office infrastructure. We want money that will directly be given to farmers for training, land clearing, cultivation, provision of fertilizers and  storage facilities.
“Government should focus and explore energy of young people to carry out  cultivation activities as we have a lot of uncleared land in Nigeria,” he further said.

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