CBN Plans To Engage 370,000 Youths In Agric
The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced plans to engage 370,000 youths in agriculture production through its Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme.
The announcement was made in CBN’s‘Non interest guidelines for the Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme’, which was released on Tuesday.
“The objective of the programme is to engage a minimum of 370,000 youths in agricultural production across the country over the next three years in order to reduce unemployment among the youths in the country,” it said.
The apex bank said the objectives of the AADS was to multiply agricultural production towards food security, job creation and economic diversification.
It said the specific objectives included the promotion of national food security in each state through sustained interactions among stakeholders in the agricultural value chain.
Others are “collaboration among state governments, the CBN and relevant other stakeholders to create jobs in the agricultural sector, with strong focus on crops where states have a comparative advantage, and provision of short- and medium-term funding windows for the implementation of the scheme.”
According to the CBN, Nigerian youths within the ages of 18 to 35 years are the target group.
The apex bank said the participating finance institutions would act as its agents in disbursing the financing to the beneficiaries.
It said the PFIs would purchase the inputs and then sell to the beneficiaries, using CBN-approved non-interest financing contract at an all-inclusive rate of return of nine per cent per annum.
According to the CBN, the beneficiaries will be responsible for the management of the farm, provide a third party, and a guarantor for repayment of financing facility.
Source: https://punchng.com/cbn-plans-to-engage-370000-youths-in-agric/
