The first batch of 400,000 farmers are to benefit from the N500 billion Federal Government zero-interest financing project for smallscale farmers under the Agric for Food and Job Plan scheme from next week.
A senior special assistant to the President on Agriculture, Andrew Kwasari told the media in abuja this Tuesday that the project is expected to mitigate the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s agricultural sector.
Kwaseri said that trained enumerators have been sent out to identify farmers and their farms to ensure proper targeting of beneficiaries.
He explained that the scheme would improve crop yields per hectare as well as link farmers to markets for off-take throughout-grower scheme.
The President’s Special Assistant on Agriculture added that the scheme targets 2.5 million smallholder farmers across the 36 states of the federation and the FCT to produce 10 million tonnes of food which include cropping, animal husbandry, fisheries, and horticulture among others within the next 12 months.
