Association wants to introduce scheme to boost rice, maize production


The Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria (SEEDAN) said on Monday that the association was planning to develop a Sustainable Agricultural Financing Model Scheme to boost maize and rice value chains.
The President of SEEDAN, Mr Richard Olafare, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
Olafare said the scheme was designed to guarantee credit facilities and technical assistance to researchers, seed companies, dealers, farmers and other players in the value chains.
He said that the effort would boost the production of rice and maize in the country.
He added that the initiative would be forwarded to the Federal Government in form of proposal for incorporation into the new agricultural policy.
According to him, the proposed financing model scheme is part of SEEDAN’s contributions to the Federal Government’s change agenda in the agriculture sector.
He said that SEEDAN was partnering with the Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), an agricultural credit guarantee programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The President explained that due to recent transition in government, there was an interruption in implementation of the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) Scheme.
He said that GES was a Federal Government agricultural input subsidy programme, aimed at subsiding the costs of agricultural inputs such as fertiliser and seeding for farmers.
According to him, creating a gap in the supply of improved seeds and other agricultural inputs to farmers nationwide, is leading to a drop in national agricultural productivity.
``Lack of access to inputs, especially quality seeds, remains one of the major setbacks for achieving optimal productivity in the agricultural sector.
``In November last year, I drew the nation’s attention to the implications of the gap created in the supply of inputs to farmers, nobody listened.
``Today, maize is about N12, 000 per bag, paddy rice is going up to about N18, 000 per bag.
`` This is the month of August, nothing has practically happened in this country. This is going to be another gap. You can imagine where this is leading us to,’’ he said.
Olafare suggested that the only way out, was for all stakeholders, especially the private sectors, to see agriculture as a business in line with government’s current policy direction.
He advised seed companies and input suppliers to begin to devise means of operating effectively without depending on government patronage for survival.
``Government or no government, how do we operate? How do we move forward without relying too much on government policies that have taken us nowhere over the years?
``The best option is for us to look at commodity value chain.
``We in the seed sector have decided to think outside the box and fashion out ways to move forward,’’ he said.
He, however, urged government to create an enabling environment for a private sector-led agricultural development regime as envisaged in the new agricultural policy.

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