By Habibat Aliu
President Muhammadu Buhari has signed into law, the National Agricultural Development Fund bill (NADF).
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mahmood Abubakar who disclosed this yesterday, in Abuja, said the NADF would be funded from the derivation from 0.5% of natural development resources fund and five per cent of the duty levied on the imported rice, wheat, sugar, milk, poultry, and fish.
He stated that governments across all levels of the federation would give take-off grants, and special intervention funds as such money would be appropriated to meet the requirements of the Act establishing NADF by the National Assembly in the budget.
The Minister said: “The NADF governing board shall consist of the chairman, and a representative from federal Ministries of finance, budget, planning, and Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), science and technology with others from Federal Inland Revenue Service, farmers’ representative and major stakeholders in the agricultural sector “
On 27th of July 2022, the upper and lower houses of the National Assembly approved the setting up of the National Agricultural Development Fund as a financial intervention institution to support strategic aspects of the sector’s development towards meeting up with the inadequate funding of the agriculture sector.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Forum for Agricultural Commodities Association (FACAN) Alh Sadiq Deware has lauded the President for the intervention by signing the national agricultural development fund bill into law and also commended the national assembly for the passage of the bill, which they described as the bedrock for farmers.
FACAN Chairman in a statement, said the signing of the NADF bill, shows the commitment of the President to the plight of Nigerian farmers.
He maintained that the NADF would boost access to financial interventions without the bureaucracy being experienced with the banking system.
