ABP colossal failure in South-West –Ekiti farmers

ABP colossal failure in South-West –Ekiti farmers
In Ekiti State, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr Olabide Adetoyi, on Tuesday, said farm inputs worth over N820m had been distributed to 3,102 rice farmers in the state under the Central Bank of Nigeria/RFAN Anchor Borrowers Programme.
But in an interview, the state Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Mr Adebola Alagbada, described the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme as a colossal failure in the South-West.
Alagbada said, “It is a colossal failure in the South-West, especially in Ekiti State. Maybe our political leaders do not have the political will to support the farmers. All the money allocated for the Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending/CBN ABP went to the North because we never benefitted from it in the South-West, especially in Ekiti State.”
On how much ABP had boosted farm activities in Ekiti State, Alagbada said, “Not much, except the one that government is keying into on the issue of rice pyramid. With government support, maybe they will get something meaningful.”
In Enugu State, some farmers said if the programme was implemented as intended, Nigeria would achieve self-sufficiency in food production soon.
They alleged that the funds meant to be released to farmers in March for rice farming were kept in a fixed deposit till October before disbursement when the rainy season is on the verge of ending.
A farmer under Surplus Multipurpose Farmers Cooperative Society Limited, Chief Austin Ude, also told one of our correspondents that the late release of the fund, which amounted to N69,500 per hectare to all Tara Agro Rice Farmers in the state, was too little to carry out the initial farming activities.
The state Chairman, AFAN, Ramanus Ezeh, also told one our correspondents that, though the intention and policy of the ABP was good, the implementation to get down to rural farmers to achieve food security was faulty.