The Federal Government has commenced steps to
ensure quick commencement of the Federal Government’s agricultural initiative
to provide jobs for 360,000 youths nationwide, the Governor, Central Bank of
Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele, has said.
Emefiele made the disclosure in Abuja on
Friday at a stakeholders’ meeting on the operational framework for the
Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme (AADS).
He said AADS was targeted primarily at
unemployed youths between the ages of 18 and 35.
Emefiele said through the scheme, a minimum
of 10,000 youths in each state, willing to engage in sustainable and profitable
activities along the agriculture value chain, would be employed and trained.
“I believe we are on the verge of something very significant with the AADS.
“ This scheme has been designed to create an
ecosystem with the active participation of the public sector, state governments
and the private sector,’’ he said.
Emefiele said the objectives of AADS included
the creation of economy of scale of farming on contiguous land.
“It will also assist famers in embracing
modern farming practices, such as use of tractors and irrigation schemes.
“It aims to reduce cost of production with
availability of high quality inputs at competitive prices and lowering delivery
cost of extension services,’’ he explained.
Emefiele said that state governments were
expected to provide contiguous arable land, basic infrastructure, more
efficient extension services, training and mentoring of the beneficiaries.
“The CBN on its part will provide financing
at single digit interest rates.
“Beneficiaries are not expected to come up
with any physical collateral but they must be grouped into formally registered
cooperatives and cross-guarantee each other.
“All loan beneficiaries must also have valid
Bank Verification Numbers (BVN), which will be registered on the National
Collateral Registry and used to track repayments and also blacklist any
defaulters.
Emefiele said that with the release of the
operational framework for the scheme, engagements with stakeholders would be
continuous to ensure that the scheme began during the dry season cultivation of
the outgoing year.
Also, the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu
Ogbeh, said the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development would be
providing technical support for the project.
“We will be fully involved in the land
clearing aspect of the project. In some places we will also be building dams
and lakes to ensure all season farming.
“We will also provide advice because we have
a team of experts at the ministry on crops, soil testing and the right kind of
fertiliser so that when these young people go into agriculture, they won’t lose
money,” he said.
The Governor of Kebbi, Mr Atiku Bagudu,
thanked the Federal Government for recognising the significance of agriculture
in economic development.
“We could not have recovered from recession
as early as we did if not for the intense agricultural intervention initiated
by President Muhammadu Buhari,’’ he said.
Bagudu also stressed the need to involve
financial institutions, which banking models allowed them to support
agriculture, for the programme to succeed.
Source: guardian.ng
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