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.