Federal Government, through the National Social Investment Programme Agency, says no fewer than 22,000 farmers will benefit from interest-free loans under its FarmerMoni Dry and Wet Season Programme.
The National Programme Manager, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme under NSIPA, Mr Hamza Baba, said this at the inauguration of the Renewed Hope GEEP 3.0. and the FarmerMoni Technical Working Group in Abuja on Wednesday.
Baba, who described the loan as interest and collateral-free, said that the loans aimed to strengthen agricultural productivity and would be given to farmers across the country.
“Under this particular scheme, we are expecting that from today our portal will be open for eligible farmers, to go and register, to access our loans. And these loans are interest-free and collateral-free.
“The total sum per beneficiary is N300,000, and we arrive at this by looking at the economic production of each farming activity. So, we are targeting the vulnerable, poor farmers at the grassroots,” he said.
According to him, to access the loans, the farmer must be a Nigerian citizen and at least 18 years old.
“The farmer must own land or rent land. They must already be engaged in farming activities. We are not looking for new farmers.
“They should have a bank account, NIN, municipal identification, and must belong to a farming cooperative or association in your local government,” Baba said.
He said that the programme covered the 774 local governments in Nigeria.
“We have at the state level, our state programme managers who are working with our enumerators, the banks, the FinTech recovery agents.
“They will be working with agricultural development projects and all farmer associations in each of the 37 states of the federation.
“We are targeting more than 22,000 farmers for this phase, looking at about 28 farmers per local government,” he said.
The programme manager said that a similar s scheme, TraderMoni, was meant for artisans and petty traders.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Bernard Doro, while unveiling the Renewed Hope GEEP 3.0, said the event represented more than the unveiling of two policy initiatives.
