Thousands of farmers, processors, technology developers and agro entrepreneurs graced this year’s national agricultural show holding at kilometers 28, Abuja -Keffi expressway. At the opening ceremony yesterday, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the convener of the show, while acknowledging the Buhari’s administration strides on agriculture, however faulted the administration of the Anchor Borrower Programme (ABP) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). ‘’Honourable minister let me make an objective intervention on the administration of the Anchor Borrower Programme. Our national agricultural foundation accepts as laudable the principle behind the scheme but we honestly do not believe that the Central Bank of Nigeria is properly placed to administer it.

“Part of the reasons that the scheme cannot be said to be completely successful is because it is not been operated by the appropriate government agency,” he said. Senator Adamu also expressed concern over what he called “the unfortunate background of insecurity that has led to the desertion of farms by peasant’s farmers in the North Central and North-western geopolitical zones.” “The situation in the Northeast is even more pathetic when we note that farming activities in the zone virtually ceased when insurgency overran vast swaths of the land. We cannot pretend  and hide the negative impact of this sad development.

SOURCE: DAILY TRUST