Oceanic Bankhas so fardisbursed N40 billion as loans to agricultural institutions and the entire value chain with a view to boosting food supply nationwide.Addressing newsmen in Lagos last week, Head, Agro Allied and Export, Oceanic International Bank, Eyitayo Quadri, said apart from the fund which was disbursed from 2006 to date, the bank had also set aside N20 billion to loan to farmers this year.Quadri noted that the move was to enhance agricultural sector which is the mainstay of the economy, adding that apart from employing about 70 per cent Nigerians, the sector also contributed over 40 per cent to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).He stated that the bank was working with farmers in groups and cooperatives to ensure effective utilisation of the disbursed loans,He lauded Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)'s various initiatives such as Nigerian Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) scheme, stating that it would improve the flow of loanable funds from banks to farmers and also lower interest rates.Quadri restated Oceanic Bank's commitment to providing capital to the entire value chain, including mechanisation, farming, input, agro-processing and distribution.'Right now, we are looking for the right agriculture institutions or farmers we can finance with our funds and funds that have been made available by the CBN.What we are doing for small farmers is that we have products for state governments that are willing to lend to small cooperatives and small farmers in their states. We require that the state governments put in place an agency or any mechanism that we can monitor the activities of the cooperatives,' he said.He explained that the renewed interest on agricultural funding was informed by the commitment and support of the federal government through the apex bank (CBN) and Ministry of Agriculture to support the sector financing to enhance sustainable economic growth.'In the past, agriculture financing was a problem. There was the challenge of a meeting point between financiers and the farmers. They didn't understand each other. The financial players didn't understand how agric work so they didn't want to put in money. In fact, most of the bad loans in the past were on agriculture, so people that got their fingers burnt became skeptical. Agric is a bit technical, with high risk. The conditions in doing agric finance is getting clearer, the CBN is putting guarantees, putting counterpart funding in place and making the security less than what it used to be, so financiers are willing to invest,' he said.According to him, the bank, in partnership with Tractors Owners and Operators Association of Nigeria (TOOAN) has acquired 27 tractors to lease to farmers in Kaduna, adding that the banks had concluded arrangement to acquire additional 1,000 tractors to disburse to farmers all over the country.'We are partnering with Mahindra and TAC Tractors. But we intend to expand it. So you don't have to own or even lease a tractor as farmer. All you need is approach tractor owners and rent it for the period you would need it. Its more cost effective and has more value, ' he stated.He explained that it was high time the government diversified the economy, stressing that a situation where the country depend solely on oil and gas was not the best for the economy.'It is high time we reverted to the old days. The era of groundnut pyramid in the north, cocoa in the South and others. We cannot depend on oil and gas eternally. We should go back to agriculture,' he advised.
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