6.39 million farmers enumerated under Economic Sustainability Plan

Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo says that 6.39 million farmers under the N2.3 trillion Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) agriculture scheme have been enumerated across the country.

The Vice President disclosed this at a two-day Mid-Term Ministerial Performance Review Retreat at the State House Banquet Hall in Abuja.

The ESP was implemented by the FG last year to deal with the economic effects of the pandemic on the country, as the Vice President revealed that the farmers had also been tagged to their lands which would enable them work with the FG.

“So, we have accurate record, verified by the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, of 6.39 million farmers with their lands duly tagged. We know where their farms are and we know where their lands are; so far, 3.63 million passed the first stage of validation and another 2.47 million passed the second stage of validation.

We are validating them also for BVN; those who do not have BVNs are getting BVNs” he said.

He also added that a total of 320 hectares of land had been cleared in some states at 40 hectares per state, including Kwara, Plateau, Cross River, Edo, Kaduna, Ekiti and Osun States.

“These are states that require land clearing; N447 billion is allocated as loans to farmers across 14 crop value chains, be it production, aqua culture and poultry farming.

But so far, only N14 billion has been disbursed to commercial banks and even this sum is yet to be utilised by farmers due to the late release for the 2021 wet farming season,” he explained.
On the Fertiliser Subsidy Programme, he said the strategy was to pay the amount of the subsidy directly into the BVN verified accounts of the beneficiaries.

He disclosed that the ESP also prioritized healthcare, stating that the funds allocated to the health sector were for surveillance and epidemiology, establishing laboratories, point of entry management, infection prevention and control, health management, health-related communications, research and development.