THE Federal Government is set to empower 2.2 million farmers with about N12.3 billion agricultural subsidy in a few weeks.
This is coming after President Buhari approved a N6.15 billion agricultural subsidy for the first batch of 1.2 million farmers.
Disclosing this on Sunday, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Agriculture, Andrew Kwasari, disclosed that the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) had validated the first batch of beneficiaries.
“The President has approved subsidies for 1.2 million farmers in Batch A and the NIBSS has validated their bank accounts and BVN (Bank Verification Numbers) as farmers. We have another batch of over one million and NIPSS has also validated their details and it will be sent to Mr President for approval,” said Kwasari.
“NIBSS validates every BVN tied to any account and can tell you the owner of such accounts in this country.”
On the total amount of subsidy to be given to farmers, Kwasari stated that, “The first batch is N6.15bn and we are preparing Batch B and it may be up to that amount also. The file has moved from my office right now and it is with the Accountant-General of the Federation and NIBSS for payment.”
He further revealed that the Federal Government had captured over 6 million farmers across the country, stressing that the data of these operators were in his office.
Furthermore, Kwasari urged farmers to deploy the funds judiciously for agricultural purposes when they start receiving the subsidies and pointed out that the government would monitor the activities.
Recently, the All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (AFAN) had faulted the Federal Government’s claim of registering about 6 million farmers for its agricultural subsidy programme with its National President, Kabir Ibrahim, said that the association was not aware of the programme.
