The Central Bank of Nigeria, Abeokuta branch, has said that it disbursed N500m to 1,500 farmers in Ogun State in the year 2020.

This disbursement according to the CBN is under the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund which has been ongoing since 1978.

The ACGSF was established by Decree No. 20 of 1977 to guarantee credit facilities extended to farmers by banks.

Development Finance Officer, Oluwakemi Olukoya, disclosed this on Tuesday, while speaking at the Ogun State Award for Best Farmer of the Year, 2020.

Olukoya said of the N500m, farmers got as low as N250,000 while others accessed up to N1m loan.

She advised that farming should be taken seriously by everyone no matter the choice of the profession.

She said, “In 2020, about N500m was raised for about 1500 farmers in Ogun State.  Since we have more farmers that have been participating in it in Ogun State, we have different categories, some got N250,000 some got N1m.”

While encouraging Nigerians to take farming seriously, Olukoya said the discovery of oil led to the neglect of agriculture.

CBN in collaboration with the ACGSF board rewarded three farmers out of the 1500 for prompt loan repayment, good record keeping, harnessing the value chain of the product line and increased productivity.

Olusegun Akindele emerged best farmer of the year 2020 in Ogun State while Temidayo Akinsehinwa and Adisa Sanni emerged first and second   runners up respectively.

Earlier in his address, the branch Director, Wahab Olarenwaju, represented by his assistant, Yemi Folorunsho, said the award was to encourage farmers.

He advised farmers to keep up their efforts for the sake of food security in the country.