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Sunday, September 15, 2013

Mainstreet Bank commits N10bn to fertiliser distribution


Anthony Nwakaegho/NaijaAgroNet
Mainstreet Bank plc has committed N10 billion to the funding of fertiliser distribution through agro dealers in Nigeria to complement the federal government’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda, NaijaAgroNet reports.
The Managing Director, Mainstreet Bank, Faith Tuedor-Matthews disclosed this to NaijaAgroNet at the 2013 Nigerian Economic Summit (NES) held in Abuja recently, revealing the bank’s successful intervention in the procurement and distribution of fertiliser had impacted about one million real farmers in Nigeria.
She said that her institution was developing a project initiative in partnership with willing state governments to support funding of primary production activities in some key crops, following the success achieved through the federal government’s Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS).
The Mainstreet Bank boss acknowledged that GESS had been supportive of small farmers who are the ultimate drivers of food production and agricultural development in Nigeria.
Commenting on the use of seed production chain to boost the success of GESS, she said that there are four critical steps which all stakeholders should embrace, which includes: the need for greater investment in Research and Development (R&D) in the seeds sector, quality control of the seeds to ensure standards, deliberate branding of the seeds to achieve market differentiation as well as investing greater effort on general awareness.

She canvassed that government, seed companies, farmers and the researchers to work together to improve the quality of hybrid seeds available to farmers and  crops such as rice, sorghum, cassava, cotton, soya beans, and Maize should be provided to the small farmers who have major buyers or Agro processors.

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