Farmers Appeal For Loan To Boost Agriculture

The Eredo Farmers Association in Epe Division, Lagos State has appealed to the Federal and Lagos State governments to provide support by giving loans in order to boost agricultural production in the area.

The president of the association, Idris Ojuoomola made the plea while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Epe on Monday.

He said that farmers in that axis had not been enjoying the government’s agricultural support loans.

“We have been existing in the council area for the past few years but have no access to government loans.

“We are more than 20 young graduate farmers in Eredo axis and we all have farms but can’t produce in a large quantity due to paucity of funds,” he said.

He listed some of the agricultural merchandise his members produced including cassava, corn, vegetable, cucumber, watermelon, tomato farming, animal husbandry, poultry, piggery, among several others.

“Demands are high but supplies are low. If we have easy access to government loans, we will meet up to consumers' demands on agricultural products,” he said.

According to him, one of the major challenges facing the farmers is their inability to access loans from federal and Lagos state governments, under their agricultural schemes.

“We don’t always have access to the loans for farmers, given by the state government through the Central Bank of Nigeria. We would like Lagos State Government to assist us in this regard.

“If we have access to loans, we will modernise and advance our farming system, as is done in advanced countries,” he said.