Nigeria News
Cross River Plans N30 Billion Agric Development Fund
Cross River State Commissioner for Agriculture and Irrigation Development, Johnson Ebokpo, has revealed plans by the state to launch a N30 billion commercial agriculture development fund that will allow farmers easy access to loans.
Announcing the development in a statement, the commissioner detailed that the fund will be managed by a consortium of banks.
He stated that the fund is meant to transition farmers from subsistence farming to commercial farming while also boosting the state’s agricultural value chain.
Naija News reports that Ebokpo explained that the initiative would focus on increasing maize, cassava, aquaculture, and rice production, as well as ensuring all-year-round agriculture in the state. The commissioner said that the initiative was developed to help farmers get easy access to loans.
He said, “We have, for instance flour mills in Calabar which had to rely on maize supply of about N60 billion annually from Kano, Kaduna, and other states from the North.
“Cross River has about 1.8 million hectares of arable land suitable for all sorts of agricultural purposes but does not have the funds to cultivate much maize to feed the flour mill here.
“What the government of Prince Bassey Otu is trying to do is to commit this fund with the consortium of banks where farmers can have access to it for six years.
“Principally, the fund is coming from the state government but the banks and international development partners can bridge the gap when they see the commitment of the government.”
