Oyo state once lost a whopping N3b facility aimed at funding Agriculture, says Agric Coordinator

The chairman/ Coordinator of Agric Development Farmers Association and Oyo state Agricultural Development Program ( ADP) Alhaji Saliu Alabi Imam has disclosed how Oyo state lost a whooping three billion naira facility aimed at funding agriculture in Oyo state.

 Alhaji Saliu Alabi Imam, recently told Foodfarmnews this in Ibadan.

He said the money which was kept at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by Nigeria Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) was to be used in the cultivating 10,000 ha of rice; 10,000 ha of vegetables; 50,000 ha of maize and 50,000 ha of cassava but that that was not to be.

He explained: "By 2020 when we wanted to start, COVID  came, then, subsequently, NIRSAL had internal problems... COVID came February/March and didn't end till 2021. By then NIRSAL had gotten its own problems viz consecutive sacking of chief executives... "

Imam who also doubles as chairman of National Coffee & Tea Association  (NACOFTA) said the association had the plan to cultivate two million seedlings of coffee and eventually produce 100 million metric tons of the produce.

The farmers' boss called for a focus on production rather than consumption and that there should be value addition before exportation adding: "Coffee alone will provide so much foreign exchange for Nigeria if well- harnessed... "

While canvassing for better funding for agriculture, he said: "I once suggested putting 50% of Nigeria's annual budget into agriculture... If you get agriculture right, you will get many things right: health is ensured; you get security right because hunger has driven some of the criminals into doing what they do."