Fatima Muraina

The Ondo state Agricultural Commodity Association has called for the for the  take-off  establish microfinance bank.

The state Chairman of the association, Mr Gbenga Obaweya made the call in an interview with The Hope yesterday.

Obaweya said the establishment of the farmers bank will enable them have a sense of ownership.

According to him, 5, 000 farmers investing N5,000 each or just 50 financially endowed farmers investing N5m each will actualise the vision.

A shoring up of the N20m support graciously approved by Mr Governor in 2018 (which is believe is still being safely kept for us by the Ondo State Ministry of Agric) to about N50m will also be extremely helpful.

He lamented the current challenges farmers are facing on the issue of cashless policy and cash scarcity which he said have adverse effects on the farmers, the state and country at large.

He mentioned some of these challenges to Include, high cost of inputs, non availability of farming equipment and Insecurity.

He called on the incoming administration to prioritise agriculture with a lot of investments in land clearing & preparation equipment, subsidized inputs, enhanced security and guaranteed markets for produce among many others.

He urged farmers to pay attention to NIMET prediction and to act accordingly while he tasks cooperative groups to make value addition, equipment purchase or leasing as their most priority.