By Nneka Nwogwugwu & Abdulrahman Abdullahi
The National Vice President of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) and current National President of Potatoes Farmers Association of Nigeria (POFAN), Chief Daniel Okafor has urged the government to establish accurate data for farmers who obtain agricultural loans.
Okafor, speaking in an interview with NatureNews reporters lamented that the government and some banks that give agricultural loans give out loans to anybody claiming to be farmers without obtaing proper data documentation.
He said that the government by-passes farmers’ organisations and gives out loans to self-acclaimed farmers who end up spending the loans frivolously.
‘’The loans they are giving are good but they are not giving them to the right people. It is supposed to be monitored by farmers organizations.
‘’They don’t have records and data of the farmers they are giving the loans to. Getting data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is not enough because there is a need to monitor the loans given out.
‘’The way they are giving the loan is not proper and acceptable by farmers and this shows failure on the part of the government,’’ Okafor said.
The Potato National president also disclosed that a good number of farmers organisations have collected agric loans.
He said that the Central Bank of Nigeria through the Anchor Borrowers programme and the Bank of Agriculture have been giving out loans to rice, cassava and other farmers, noting that his organization, Potatoes farmers Association have not received any loan from the government.
‘’As a potatoe farmer, we have only received grants from federal government and have not received loans as an organization.
‘’We decided not to take loans until we have a modality and presently we have developed a modality, our 10 years rolling plan, which will be unveiled in February.
Speaking on the challenges faced in disbursing these loans, Okafor said that the government try their best to give out these loans but some farmers end up not paying the loans.
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’I am a former general secretary of Nigeria cassava growers association (NCGA) and a board member. During that time, cassava farmers collected loans but have not paid that loan. For example when flour mills gave loan of about 500 million Naira for cassava bread, some farmers have not paid that money back.
‘’Even rice farmers in Kebbi have not paid their own. They have not reached 30% of their payment to CBN through Anchor Borrowers Programme,’’ he said.
He added that these loans are not paid back as a result of poor data record and monitoring of these farmers.
‘’There’s no template and records for these farmers. For example, for the past 5 years, my organization has not taken any loan and this was because we didn’t have the modality.
‘’But as we unveil our 10 years rolling plan, we will get loan from the government this year and we will monitor and evaluate the farmers I have data of about 280 farmers that we collected during the COVID lockdown.
When asked if the farmers eventually deliver food outcomes after collecting these loans, he said, ‘’ I don’t know what other farmers use the loan for because I know that Farmers delay some projects because nobody is monitoring them.
‘’But my organization has already set up committee where will monitor the farmers after collecting the loans.’’
Okafor noted that the loans the government couldn’t get back in Kebbi from rice farmers have caused the government to make some amendment while giving out loans.
He noted that the government has presently developed templates through which they are giving loan. Presently they are not giving loans anyhow.
He recommended that the government should keep records of who they are giving the loan to because ‘’It is Nigeria’s money and it can liquidate the economy if they don’t take time.
‘’They should work with farmers organisations and should not give loans to people who don’t own a farm.
‘’Government should also make them include a traditional ruler and their religious heads while they are applying for the loans as a way to also monitor them.
‘’The CBN or banks that give agric loans should set up a committee that will monitor and evaluate loans given to farmers.’’
