The Bayelsa Government on Sunday raised the alarm of the activities of middlemen who extort money from farmers seeking to participate on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers Scheme.

The middlemen float fictitious cooperative societies soliciting membership from farmers seeking agriculture loan for a fee.

Bayelsa State Agricultural Development Company (BADC) has therefore advised farmers in the state to avoid the middlemen describing the act as fraudulent

The Managing Director of the BADC, Mrs. Helen Ajuwa said in Yenagoa that the activities of the middlemen who extort money from farmers was illegal as no fee was required to access the agricultural credit facility.

“Based on the state government's policy for giving agricultural loans, no farmer needs to pay a dime to access any federal government agric loan,” Ajuwa said.

According to her, the state recently keyed into the CBN Anchor Borrowers Scheme targeted at 2,000 real fish and cassava farmers in the state during the first phase of the programme in 2017.

Ajuwa urged farmers in the state to consult the office of the BADC before applying for agriculture loan in order not to fall prey to fraudsters who are bent on extorting from them.

She explained that all fish and cassava farmers should do to get registered is to provide a land owned by the farmer.

According to her, the BADC would take off from that point by clearing the land, providing them with cassava stems, fertilizers, herbicides and little grant for farm management.

She emphasised that the farmers are not expected to pay money to secure the grant.

The state government is saddled with the repayment of agricultural credit granted to farmers in the state by the Federal Government, which was guaranteed by the government.

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