German agency to launch $4.1 million agricultural finance scheme in Nigeria
Summary
The goal of the scheme is to improve the income and productivity of 200,000 smallholder farmers.
The Green Innovation Centre for Agriculture and Food Sector (GIC) has announced that it will launch a $4.1 million agricultural finance scheme in Nigeria in November. The GIC Programme Coordinator for Nigeria, Caroline Trimborn, said the programme will run for four years and the fund will be disbursed to small-scale farmers through commercial banks.
The programme coordinator made the announcement in Abuja during a training organised by the GIC for journalists.
“We are working with banks to come out with good criteria that farmers could meet,” said Triborn. Adding that the funds will require collateral but it will be specific to each bank and its criteria.
The goal of the scheme, according to Triborn, is to improve the income and productivity of 200,000 smallholder farmers cultivating rice, maize, Irish potato and cassava in the country. Triborn said the agency has different intervention plans along various value chains.
The agency is working on projects in Kano, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Benue, Plateau, Cross River, Oyo, and Ogun State to train up to 150,000 smallholder farmers. GIC is working with the federal and state governments and with a lot of private organisations to boost agricultural production and the livelihood of farmers in Nigeria.
The GIC is a division of the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ). The GIZ, under the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), works with businesses, civil society actors and research institutions to foster successful interactions for development.
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