…Targets 2.6Mn tonnes Of Food
The Bank of Agriculture (BOA) has started the distribution of fertilisers, improved maize grains and crop protection products to smallholder farmers under the Renewed Hope Smallholder Support and Value Chain Fund (RH-SVCF), with a target of producing an additional 2.6 million tonnes of food to ensure food security for millions of Nigerians nationwide.
The latest intervention of the bank is designed to benefit about 500,000 farmers, who are expected to cultivate about 520,000 hectares of farmland nationwide and by so doing, improve rural livelihoods and boosting agricultural productivity.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Bank, Mr. Ayo Sotinrin, who gave these figures during the flag-off of the input distribution at the Dutse Modern Stadium in Jigawa State, disclosed that the programme had benefitted nearly 200,000 farmers so far in terms of financed, as 1.8 million bags of fertiliser and 329,000 bags of quality, high-yielding seeds are being distributed through 20 Farmer Aggregation Companies across more than 20 states.
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A statement issued by the Head, Operations Lead, Office of the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Adam Mohammed, quoted the Managing Director, represented at the event by the Divisional Head, Finance and Strategy, Osho Hakeem Adekunle, as saying that over one-third of the beneficiaries are women, reflecting the government’s commitment to inclusive agricultural development and ensuring that women farmers benefit from the interventions aimed at improving food production.
Sotinrin described the bank’s interventions as a key component of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, aimed at translating government’s agricultural policies into practical support for farmers through access to finance, institutional backing and timely supply of quality farm inputs.
The banker clarified: “This initiative is a concrete expression of the Renewed Hope Agenda, a policy that moves beyond promises to deliver structure, funding and institutional support for agriculture.
“It tells every Nigerian farmer that they are not alone, as the government and its institutions stand with them from the soil to the market”, he added.
He expressed the bank board and management’s appreciation to the President for allowing them to serve as the vehicle through which the government’s agricultural interventions were reaching farmers nationwide, adding that the objective is not only to improve this year’s harvest but also to build a sustainable agricultural system capable of raising incomes, strengthening markets and ensuring long-term food security.
Sotinrin also lauded one of the partner companies, Staragric Nigeria Limited, for its role in implementing the programme, noting that beyond its role as a logistics partner, the company has become a custodian of farmers’ trust.
He expatiated: “The Bank has channelled resources through you because you accepted responsibility for delivery, stewardship and accountability. How you deploy these inputs and account for every bag of seed and litre of crop protection product will determine the credibility and scalability of this model.”
In his speech, Adekunle described farmers as the basis of the intervention and that programme’s success would ultimately be measured by improved harvests, higher yields, increased incomes and enhanced national food security.
The expert charged the farmers to efficientlyy use of the inputs, comply with recommended agronomic practices, keep proper farm records and promptly report any challenges encountered during the farming season.
According to him, the intervention is built on a partnership involving the Federal Government, the Bank of Agriculture, input aggregators and farmers, with each stakeholder expected to play its role responsibly to guarantee the programme’s success.
The Director assured the participants that the bank would continue to monitor implementation, evaluate outcomes and apply lessons learnt to improve and scale up future interventions.
He said: “Our objective is not a single season’s success but sustained, bankable agricultural transformation that raises incomes, strengthens markets and secures food for our nation.”
In his address at the event, the Managing Director of Tukunyar Gwari Seed Nigeria Limited, Alhaji Nuhu Lawal, described the BOA’s intervention as a strategic partnership between his company and the bank aimed at transforming agriculture into a profitable enterprise.
According to him, the Renewed Hope Smallholder Support and Value Chain Fund brings together farmers, processors, financiers and investors to improve productivity, increase yields and strengthen agricultural value chains, pointing out that beyond boosting food production, the initiative is expected to reduce poverty and tackle insecurity by creating sustainable livelihoods through farming to millions of households nationwide.
One of the beneficiary-farmers, Solomon Mathew, who spoke on behalf of the participants, described the intervention as timely, projecting that it will ease the burden of purchasing farm inputs, which have become increasingly expensive over the past years, and enable smallholder farmers to cultivate larger portions of their lands to boost agricultural output in the country.
