In the latest of its moves at receiving foreign aids, the Federal Government yesterday agreed on a $3bn agriculture financing with United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The agreement was for USAID to extend its financing role to the agricultural sector, in order to boost the activities of the sector.
During the agreement, the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, signed on behalf of the Federal Government, while the USAID Administrator, Dr. Rajiv Shah, signed for the Agency.
The signed agreement is expected to encourage the growth of Agriculture in the country, which will be occasioned by combined training and workshops for local banks and agriculture related enterprises.
According to the USAID Administrator, Dr. Rajiv Shah, the US would stand for a $100m commercial lending to Nigerian banks, adding that the development would promote private financing to the sector. He said, “We are very proud of this partnership agreement because we know that in all of the promise and success that the future holds for Nigeria; agriculture nearly 70 per cent of small scale farmers lack access to financing… Because of this partnership, hundreds of millions of dollars will be made available so that farmers can access and improve their production system and their processing operations.”
Source: businessnews
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