Mr Jerry Ossai, a former Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigerian (AFAN) in Delta, has called for transparent implementation of the proposed Central Bank on Nigeria (CBN) N300 billion loans to agriculture in 2016.

Ossai, a commercial farmer, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigerian (NAN) in Asaba on Sunday.

He advised that the apex bank should ensure that only genuine farmers would access the loan, stressing that the fund would yield the desired results if only genuine farmers accessed it.

He lauded the CBN and the partnering banks for floating the loans, adding that the five per cent interest rate as well as the five years repayment is encouraging.

The commercial farmer, however, called on the apex bank to give the beneficiaries between six and 12 months moratorium before repayment.

He said that the period of moratorium should be determined by the nature of the farming activities of the beneficiaries.

NAN recalls that the Governor of CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, announced recently in Lagos that the bank and the deposit money banks had set aside N300 billion for loans to agriculture in 2016.

Emefiele said that the scheme was an effort to boost agriculture as well as grow and diversify the economy.

He said that to achieve this objective, the bankers’ committee planned to de-risk agricultural value chain.

He said that the fund would accommodate the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as large-scale farming. (NAN)

•Photo shows CBN Gov. Emefiele.