FG to assist 2.2m farmers with N12.3bn agric subsidy

The federal government is set to disburse N12.3 billion agricultural subsidy to over 2.2 million farmers in the coming weeks.

It was gathered that President Muhammadu Buhari had already approved N6.15 billion agricultural subsidy for the first batch of 1.2 million farmers.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Agriculture, Andrew Kwasari, who made this disclosure said that the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) had validated the data of the first batch of beneficiaries.

He said the disbursement will be in two tranches, 1.2 million farmers would start to get credit alerts soon while another batch of over one million beneficiaries would also receive about N6.15 billion in agricultural subsidy.

Kwasari said, “The President has approved subsidies for 1.2 million farmers in Batch A and the NIBSS has validated their bank accounts and BVN (Bank Verification Numbers) as farmers.

“We have another batch of over one million and NIPSS has also validated their details and it will be sent to Mr President for approval.

“NIBSS validates every BVN tied to any account and can tell you the owner of such accounts in this country. The first batch is N6.15 billion and we are preparing Batch B and it may be up to that amount also.

“The file has moved from my office right now and it is with the Accountant-General of the Federation and NIBSS for payment.

“We’ve captured over six million and very soon, we will be giving direct subsidies to these registered farmers,” he added.