- CBN Offers N2bn Agric Loan to Shonga Farms
The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN ), Godwin Emefiele has said that the bank has decided to supplement the foreign investment in the poultry syndicate of Shonga Farms Holdings Limited in Kwara State with a loan of N2billion under the Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme.
Emefiele disclosed this during a working visit to Shonga Farms in Edu Local Government Area of Kwara State in the company of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed and some members of the Upper Legislative Chamber.
Emefiele, who said the loan attracts a single digit interest rate of 9% stated that Kwara State has a comparative advantage in poultry business, making it necessary to support the management and owners of Valentine Farms, operators of the poultry section, whose business, he said, has provided employment to a lot of unemployed youths in the state.
He praised the state government for the initiative describing it as an example of a successful collaboration with foreign direct investors that created employment in the agro-allied business in the country.
Earlier, the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki thanked the CBN for the gesture as well as the Governor of Kwara State for sustaining the policy and building on it. He pledged the lawmakers’ continued support for agro-allied businesses in the country through appropriate laws.
Responding, the Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed thanked the CBN Governor for the loan and the Senate President for his pioneering efforts on Shonga Farms in the State.
According to him, “we are truly opening potential that are attached to this business which started in the last 13 years.
“The potential are huge but the most importantly is how to put together a programme under the Off-taker demand driven Agricultural Scheme to exploit the potential fully”.
He added that his administration has established an Off-taker Demand Driven Scheme based on the lessons learnt from the Shonga model as a means of empowering farmers, creating jobs and establishing Kwara State as a major agricultural hub in the country.
