By Modupe Gbadeyanka
In order to make farming attractive to youths across the country, the Federal Government has concluded plans to situate the Bank of Agriculture (BoA) branches in all the 776 local government areas of the federation.
This hint was dropped by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Audu Ogbeh, when he had an interactive session with social media influencers on Saturday in Abuja.
Mr Ogbeh said it was necessary to engage youths in agriculture, noting that it was a very profitable venture to go into because of its importance to the nation.
He said to achieve this, government would need to tackle the issue of interest rate, which the BoA would address by providing a single digit interest rate on loans.
The Minister noted that to further make the bank accessible and closer to the people, the BoA would be sited in all the local councils of Nigeria.
Mr Ogbeh also noted that the bank was being restructured to serve as both commercial and development bank for farmers.
The Minister further told his guests that this week, about 200 rice mills would be distributed to farmers, maintaining that the Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprise “LIFE” of his administration would create an atmosphere for food processing mills to be established in rural areas to create wealth and jobs for the rural women and youths.
Adedapo Adesanya