The Federal Government, through the Bank of Agriculture, has unveiled a series of interventions aimed at boosting food production and supporting more than 1.2 million farmers across the country during the current wet season.
The Managing Director of BOA, Ayodele Sotinrin, disclosed this in a statement issued by the bank’s Team Lead, Corporate Communications Department, Ruth Didam.
Sotinrin said the interventions formed part of President Bola Tinubu’s agricultural agenda to strengthen food security, improve farmers’ incomes, and expand financial inclusion. “The wide-ranging initiatives reflect the Federal Government’s commitment to supporting farmers whose labour ensures Nigerians do not go hungry”, Sotinrin said.
He said mechanisation remained a major focus of the programme, noting that Nigeria currently has a tractor density of 0.27 per 100 square kilometres.
He explained that a key pillar of the intervention was the introduction of a Guaranteed Minimum Price mechanism to address the long-standing gap between production costs and farm-gate prices, adding that the food stabilisation initiatives would be driven as a massive national campaign, with the entire country sensitised through all media platforms. “Under the arrangement, the government will set a price floor for staple crops such as maize, rice, soybeans, and cassava.
“The bank will purchase excess produce directly from farmers to prevent post-harvest losses and store the commodities in the nation’s 33 silos for future price stabilisation,” he stated.
The BOA boss also noted that the bank had shifted from direct micro-credit to a digital ecosystem driven by farmer aggregation companies, explaining that the “bank now leverages digital platforms and identity verification tools, including Bank Verification Number, BVN and National Identification Number, NIN, to open bank accounts for farmers within minutes, ensuring financial support reaches genuine producers rather than middlemen”.https://farmingfarmersfarms.com/2026/04/fg-boosts-food-security-with-5000-hectare-farm/
He said the bank had deployed 2,000 tractors sourced from Belarus to service providers with the capacity to mechanise at least 600 hectares each. “The initiative is expected to support more than 1.2 million farmers during the current wet season,” he said.
He further revealed the launch of a ginger revival programme following a devastating fungal infection that hit the crop in 2023.
“The programme will replace traditional replanting methods with tissue culture technology, with the goal of expanding the ginger industry from a US$300 million sector to a US$3 billion export powerhouse by 2028”, he disclosed.
