NACCIMA recommends single-digit rates to boost agric exports

Amid falling oil prices and naira devaluation, the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has recommended allocation of 10 percent of the total budget to agriculture sector as well as introduction of a single-digit lending rate regime to boost export of agricultural commodities in order to ramp up foreign exchange earnings and create millions of jobs.
At a one-day dialogue session on the national agriculture value chain themed, ‘Enhancing Agricultural Exports through Adequate Financing for Stakeholders in the Agribusiness,’ held in Lagos, NACCIMA and stakeholders in the agric sector observed that Nigerian agricultural sector was still dominated by peasant farming methods, just as high interest rates remain a major impediment to financing the sector.
They therefore suggested that in the GES arrangement, each of the state and the Federal Government should provide 25 percent as support for seeds and fertiliser to farmers directly, rather than provide succour through the general price subsidy.
The stakeholders said while the Federal Government should increase the budget allocation to agriculture to at least 10 percent, single-digit interest rate should be in operation for farmers.
They said the paid up share capital of the Bank of Agriculture (BoA) should be raised to N500 billion, while its treatment should be at par with that of the Bank of Industry (BoI).
“Government should provide incentives on imported farm tools and equipment to reduce their cost,” stakeholders said. “All agricultural products for export must be guaranteed and risk insured while finance-friendly banks should be underwritten by the Nigerian Export-Import (NEXIM) Bank and/or the Central Bank of Nigeria,” they said, adding that special arrangement need be made for women by BoA to aid their easy access to agricultural loan.