Heritage Bank restates commitment to agric development

Heritage Bank Plc says it is committed to the sustenance, growth and development of the nation’s agricultural sector.

Mr Fela Ibidapo, Divisional Head of Corporate Communications, Heritage Bank, said this in a statement on Tuesday in Lagos.

Ibidapo said the bank was committed to leading the way in agricultural financing in the country.

He said that the bank was currently funding various agricultural projects in several states of the country, especially in Oyo, Kaduna and Zamfara states.

He said Heritage Bank had entered into a partnership with the Oyo State Government to support the multi-billion Oyo State Agricultural Initiative (OYSAI), a programme designed to revive agriculture.

According to him, it will also boost agro-allied businesses and empower the youth and women across the state through the creation of thousands of jobs in the sector.

“Heritage Bank is also supporting an agro-investor, Triton Aqua Africa Ltd (TAAL), with a N2 billion facility, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS).

“The facility will enable TAAL to set up a fishery production chain in Lagos, Oyo and Osun states,” he added.

Ibidapo said support to the agro-investor became imperative after research showed that Nigerians consume about 2.7 million metric tonnes of fish yearly, compared to 800,000 metric tonnes, produced locally annually.

“Consequently, the country has had to rely on importation to augment the shortfall with an estimated cost implication of about $700 million yearly in foreign exchange.

“The partnership between Heritage Bank and TAAL will help reverse the trend; and the firm will use the facility to expand its aquaculture businesses.

This, he also said would be done by setting up a nursery or hatchery for the production of fingerlings and brood stock, as well as earthen ponds for catfish and tilapia in the three states.

Ibidapo said that “Under the arrangement, TAAL is expected to assist small-scale farms in the three states to increase their fish production by making fingerlings available to them.

“In the short term, the loan is expected to help the group double its current production capacity of 25,000 metric tonnes with a projection to scale it up to 100,000 metric tonnes in five years.’’

“Ultimately, the partnership between Heritage Bank and TAAL will help to boost local production, conserve scarce foreign exchange and enhance food security, and ultimately result in the creation of hundreds of new jobs.

“Heritage Bank is also supporting thousands of smallholder farms in Kaduna and Zamfara states.”

The spokesman said that smallholder farmers stand to benefit from the bank’s financial support for rice and soya beans production under the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP).

Ibidapo said the bank’s drive to support the agriculture sector was an act of patriotism aimed at helping government’s desire to achieve food security and sufficiency in the country.

It is also based on the conviction that agribusiness could be profitable, he said.

He noted that there were myriads of constraints facing the agriculture sector such as poor road network and electricity supply to farmlands that were mostly located in the rural areas, “while majority of the smallholder farms are financially excluded with no access to banking services.’’

He said the bank was taking steps to clear the bottlenecks for smallholder farmers who wished to gain access to banking services.