Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has advised the commercial banks in the Republic of Uganda to reduce their lending interest rates to farmers to encourage growth in the sector.
Th e minister in a statement signed by the Acting Director, Information, Mrs Julie Osagie- Jacobs, made the call when a delegation from Ugandan on an agricultural study tour of the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES) E-Wallet Operation in Nigeria paid him a courtesy call, recently.
Alarmed at the high interest rate of 20- 25% to Farmers, he noted that it is a disaster to farmers, since farmer in most developed economies of the world lend at interest rate as low as 3 1/2%.
Ogbeh observed that Africa is the most challenged continent, and by 2050, the challenges will increase as other countries will rely on Africa and South America for their food supply.
He called on the Ugandan delegation to get their parliament to buy into the idea of tackling the issue of high interest rate by commercial banks to farmers as they would share in the blame for a failed economy.
Th e Minister noted that for the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme to succeed in Uganda, challenges such as the provision of quality and viable seeds, supply of quality fertilizers, to the diversion of fertilizer by middle men must be tackled.
Th e Uganda Minister of State for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) and leader of the delegation, Mr Mbalibula Kibanzanga Christopher said that the objective of the 20-man delegation on a six day study tour was to learn from Nigeria’s success stories in the implementation of the GES scheme E-wallet operation.
