In a report recently shared by The Sun, former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, discussed the challenges facing Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
Chief Ogbeh compared Nigeria to Holland. He said Holland is a country similar to the size of Benue State with a population of 17 million people and Holland earns 100 billion euros annually from agricultural exports like flowers, milk, and meat.
He said unlike in Holland, where the government offers different interest rates to support farmers, Nigeria’s banks do not offer favorable terms for agriculture. He argued that removing all subsidies, as some suggest, is not practical because other countries still support their farmers.
Ogbeh also highlighted the struggles of small farmers who grow crops like yams, beans, maize, and cassava. He said these farmers often can’t access bank loans because the Bank of Agriculture in Nigeria is not effective.
In Ogbeh’s words: “Holland, a country of 17 million people, is a size of Benue State. Holland earns 100 billion euros per annum from agricultural export – flours, milk, meat and so on.
In all these countries, they don’t throw these things to the wools in the banks and say oh, bank rates have gone. There are discriminatory rates. So, what they tell us here about subsidies to be removed entirely from everything is falsehood….Viêw_More
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