BOI supports agro-mechanisation with N10bn fund

The Bank of Industry (BOI) says it has earmarked N10 billion to support the acquisition of agro-equipment to enable agricultural service providers and farmers to improve mechanised farming in the country.

The acting Managing Director of BOI, Waheed Olagunju, announced this in Abuja on Wednesday at the signing of an MoU with development partners on agro-mechanisation programme.

He said the bank had also earmarked other funds for specific agric products to support farmers and boost agricultural production in the country.

“We have tried in the Bank Of Industry in recent times to come up with various projects in support of agriculture, one of them is the cottage and agro-processing fund which is a N5 billion fund.

“We also have the fish farming and processing programme, which is a N1billion fund and then the animal and fishery programme, which is also a N1 billion fund.

“The agro-mechanisation fund is N10 billion, which shows that we are according a lot of attention to agriculture, because our industriliasation must be driven by the agricultural sector.’’

He said the fund would enable practitioners in the agric sector to access funds required to acquire agro-equipment for agricultural production.

This, according to him, will improve efficiency and productivity in the agricultural sector.

The BOI managing director said the fund would be provided as loan and would be executed by various international development partners involved with promoting the nation’s agriculture.

He said the interest rate for would be beneficiaries and agricultural service providers would attract 9 per cent with a maximum tenure of five years.

Olagunju said that the signing of the MoU with development partners was a testimony to BOI’s unflinching support for the agricultural sector, noting that agriculture was the largest employer of labour in the informal sector.

He said that the N10 billion set aside for developing of agro-mechanisation was an indication of its importance to the economic development of the country.

According to him, potential applicants under the programme will be categorised into three groups, namely: micro, small and medium businesses.

He said that the agro-business micro category would be funded with N10 million, while the small businesses category would have access to more than N10 million, but not exceeding N50 million.

Olagunju further said that the medium scale agro-businesses operators would have access to initial N50 million, but not exceeding N500million.

He said that the agro funding programme was expected to create about 10,000 direct jobs and about 30,000 indirect jobs in the country.

International development partners collaborating with the BOI to drive the agro mechanisation programme include the Nigeria Incentive-based risk sharing system for agricultural lending (NIRSAL).

Others are PROPCOM MAI-KARFI, a programme funded by the United  Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID)and  Growth and Employment in States.