A former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo has warned youths against relying on high-interest bank loans of up to 20 percent interest rate to fund agricultural businesses.
He said that this would make it difficult for them to succeed in their endeavours.
The former leader said this at the launch of Youths in Agribusiness project with the theme, “Enabling Scaling of Innovative Technologies for Sustainable Food Solutions.’’
Obasanjo urged the federal government to come up with a programme that would give access to finance at the right rate for agriculture.
He said that food production, security and nutritional security are very important in Nigeria and there is also a need to create jobs for the teeming population of youth in the country.
He encouraged aspiring entrepreneurs to be prepared to invest in the business of agriculture, taking risks and utilising their resources effectively.
He said, “I believe any interest that is more than single digit is not good enough for agriculture.”
In his remarks, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, said food insecurity and severe malnutrition have risen to critical levels.
Kyari, who was represented by the Director, Agribusiness and Marketing Development, Engr. Adegbenro Adebiyi, said as a result, millions of people from the conflict-affected communities need urgent livelihood support and have continued to depend on assistance from national authorities and specialised agencies to enable them to get back their lives together.
He however advocated principal activities towards tackling food insecurities such as; training, education, rehabilitation of infrastructure, and distribution of seeds, agricultural kits and livestock.
