The Nigerian government and Brazilian Government have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a $1.2 billion loan to develop mechanized farming in the country.
The credit facility that will be provided by the Development Bank of Brazil would also support the Federal government’s drive to establish agro-processing centres across the country.
The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Agriculture, Dr. Andrew Kwasari, made this known in Abuja on Thursday.
He stated that the loan was a bilateral agreement between Nigeria and the Brazilian Government, and would be guaranteed by the Islamic Development Bank and Islamic Corporation of Insurance for Export Credit.
According to him, the facility to be repaid in the next 15 years will create market-oriented private sector-driven service centers across the country to address agricultural modernisation and agro-processing.
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“The Green Imperative Project (GIP) is a facility that will inject foreign direct investment of €995 million or $1.2 billion that has been structured financially to allow the government uses its bilateral negotiation and arrive at financing that is below three per cent interest rate and has a long gestation period of 15 years to repay,” he added.
The Director of Mechanisation in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Abubakar Abdullahi, explained that GIP would be divided into two parts to accommodate different farmers.
