The House of Representatives has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to increase funding for agriculture by $3 billion to make agribusiness less risky.
This call came after Hon. Uchenna Harris Okonkwo from Anambra moved a motion at the plenary on Tuesday, highlighting Nigeria’s economic struggles, rising poverty, and the growing hunger problem, all caused by low investment in agriculture.
Okonkwo pointed out that although the CBN launched the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) in 2011 to help farmers access loans, the agricultural sector still faces slow growth.
The lawmakers want the CBN to increase agricultural lending from 1.4% to 7% of total bank lending within five years. They also want half of the loans to go to smallholder farmers through microfinance banks, cooperatives, and commodity associations at an interest rate of 7-10.5%. The House committees on banking, agriculture, and finance will track the
