The Federal Government is seeking the approval of the National Assembly for a $1.2bn loan from Brazil to finance agriculture in 2021.
Zainab Ahmed, the minister of finance, budget, and national planning, made this known while defending her ministry’s 2021 budget before the House of Representatives Committee on Finance in Abuja on Tuesday.
She revealed that the Federal Government forwarded an approval request to the National Assembly for the loan from the Brazilian government to address issues in the agriculture value chain as Nigeria.
The minister also said 100,000 hectares of land would be required in each state for food production, adding that link roads would be built in such locations to provide access for farmers to move farm produce to markets and reduce post-harvest losses.
Speaking in response to a question on diversification of the economy posed by Chairman of the committee, Mr. James Faleke, the minister said;
“For borrowing to improve the industry, we are before the parliament. I request the approval for a loan that we call the Green Imperative Programme which is for a loan of $1.2bn from the Brazilian government.
“It is a program that is addressing the whole of the agricultural value chain from mechanization, production, processing, and selling. It is meant to lend to businessmen for tractors, plants at all levels,”
