Stiffer Conditions for Agric Loans Hampering Food Security - Consultant

By Our Reporter 

Mr Jubli Makka, a Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) Consultant on Financial Inclusion, has lamented that lack of easy access to agricultural loans was hampering agricultural production in the country. 

Makka stated this  during a workshop on Technical Assistance Support to VCDP Financial Suppliers organised by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)  on Tuesday in Makurdi.

The consultant further lamented that the conditions for accessing agricultural loans in financial institutions were very stiff thereby depriving many farmers from accessing loans to enable them scale up production.

"Commercial banks particularly are reluctant to lend to farmers as such farmers are financially constrained by paucity of funds to cultivate on a large scale.

"Micro Finance Banks (MFB) that are willing or lending to farmers have a challenge of paucity of funds. 

"They lack the financial capacity to attend to a large number of farmers," Makka said.

He said that if farmers were empowered by making agricultural loans easy to access it would go a long way to boost food security.

He also said that malnourishment was a serious problem in the country occasioned by low agricultural activities due to lack of funds.

He said that agriculture was a major contributor to economic growth, employment and poverty reduction, stressing that relevant organisations should give it the desired attention.

He further appealed that financial organisations should relax their stiff conditions to enable many farmers to access agricultural loans for the overall benefit of the society.