Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Education proposed farm financing for 40 tertiary institutions Nov. 3, seeking to bring underused land into production even as its acreage target exceeds the participants’ expected contributions.
Education Minister Maruf Tunji Alausa said each participant could obtain ₦1 billion to ₦2 billion through the Bank of Agriculture. The Renewed Hope Tertiary Agricultural and Entrepreneurship Programme would include universities, polytechnics and colleges of education. The amounts are proposed financing, with no disbursement date given.
Alausa set a goal of bringing more than 500,000 hectares into commercial farming. He also said institutions were expected to provide about 1,000 hectares apiece. At that rate, their contributions would total roughly 40,000 hectares if all 40 met the expectation, less than one-tenth of the stated goal. The plan does not explain how the larger target would be reached.
Institutions with less land could still qualify by submitting viable business proposals. Each institution would form a limited liability company as its vehicle for working with the bank. The ministry describes the land it hopes to use as underused, making the institutions’ ability to put it into production central to the plan.
Alausa also cited a ₦20 billion provision in the ministry’s capital budget for 20 institutions. How that provision relates to the proposed Bank of Agriculture financing was not specified.
The ministry says students, graduates, staff and nearby communities could gain farming opportunities, while participating institutions could earn revenue. Its existing agricultural-education guidelines call for entrepreneurship programs developed with agencies including the Bank of Agriculture and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.
Alausa said participants would have discounted access to 10 tractors each. Seedlings, irrigation equipment, fertilizer and technical support are also proposed. The ministry expects produce aggregators to buy harvested crops, but gave no timetable for financing or planting.
