The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr. Godwin Emefiele, on Friday announced that the bank has decided to supplement the foreign investment of Valentine chickens, a subsidiary of Shonga Farms Holdings Limited in Kwara State, with a loan of N2 billion Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme.
Emefiele said the loan attracts a single digit interest rate of 9 per cent.
He stated that Kwara State has a comparative advantage in poultry business, making it necessary to support the management and owners of Valentine Farms, whose business, has provided employment for a lot of unemployed youths in the State.
The Apex Bank Governor, who disclosed this during a working visit to Shonga Farms in Edu Local Government Area of Kwara State, said the loan is meant to support value chain in chicken production in the farm, with a potential of employing more hundreds of youths.
Emefiele, in company with the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki; Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Abdullah Adam; and the Kwara State Governor, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed, expressed satisfaction that critical sectors in the farms are being managed by Nigerians.
He praised the State Government for the initiative, describing it as an example of a successful collaboration with foreign direct investors that created employment in the agro-allied business in the country.
Earlier, Saraki thanked the CBN for supporting commercial agriculture in the state and assured the foreign investors that lawmakers will give support to agro-allied related business in the country through appropriate laws in order to create more employment opportunities for growing youth population in the country.
Ahmed assured Emefiele that Kwara State is adequately positioned to champion commercial agriculture revolution in the country.
He added that his administration has established an Off-taker Demand Driven Scheme based on the lessons learnt from the Shonga model as a means of empowering farmers, creating jobs and establishing Kwara State as a major agriculture hub in the country.
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