RAMADAN, 5 1429 A.H.
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 4 2008
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Commercial agric: World Bank approves additional N6bn more for Nigeria
The World Bank has granted the federal government's request for an additional N6 billion loan to execute the Commercial Agriculture Development Programme (CADP), in Nigeria.
Mr Onno Ruhi, the bank's Country Representative in Nigeria, said this in Abuja when he led a delegation of officials of the bank on a courtesy visit to the Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr Ademola Seriki.
Ruhi was accompanied on the visit by Mr Justin Yifu Lin, Vice President, Development Economics at the World Bank and some members of the CADP team in Nigeria.
He said that the N6 billion loan was in addition to the 100 million dollars) (N117 billion), loan already approved for Nigeria by the bank.
He said the loan was meant to support two agricultural projects (value chains), in each of the pilot states of Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, Enugu and Cross River where the commercial agriculture programme was being executed.
Ruhi promised that the bank would not relent in its efforts to assist Nigerian farmers to transit from subsistence to commercial agriculture.
He said the bank was also working toward actualising Fadama III in Nigeria, adding that more than 300,000 households would benefit from the programme.
In his remarks, Mr Justin Yifu Lin, commended the Federal government for its initiatives to increase food production and mitigate the effects of the global food crisis.
He said that his visits to some parts of Nigeria where the bank's projects were cited had given him the opportunity to assess Nigeria's agricultural potential.
``There are lots of untapped potential in Nigeria that we need to work on for the development and sustainability of the people,'' he said.
Speaking earlier, the minister of state for agriculture, Mr Demola Seriki, stressed the need for the World Bank to assist Nigerian farmers in the area of human development, capacity building and technology.
He said that such assistance had become imperative as majority of the present crop of farmers were aging and needed to be replaced.
He promised that the loan provided by the bank would be judiciously used.
In his remark, Prof. Dapo Afolabi, permanent secretary in the Ministry, stressed the need for the World Bank to conduct a retreat on agriculture for Nigerians farmers.
He also solicited the support of the bank in credit management.
