Experts advocate for interest free loans to finance agriculture in North

Lack of access to interest free agricultural loan facility has been identified as the bane inhibiting the growth of agriculture in the predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria. Director, International Islamic Banking and Finance, Bayero University Kano, Professor Binta Tijjani Jibril stated this in Kano at a roundtable discussion with a theme: promoting agriculture in Nigeria through […]

Lack of access to interest free agricultural loan facility has been identified as the bane inhibiting the growth of agriculture in the predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria.

Director, International Islamic Banking and Finance, Bayero University Kano, Professor Binta Tijjani Jibril stated this in Kano at a roundtable discussion with a theme: promoting agriculture in Nigeria through Islamic Finance: opportunities, challenges and way forward.

She said northern Nigeria has natural and human capital necessary for the development of agriculture in the region, but religious implication in accessing loan facilities from conventional financial institutions has being a challenge.

She urged government to mainstream alternative means such as interest free loan facilities in financing agriculture especially in the predominantly Muslim states of the north.

“Despite various government policies, programmes and initiatives aimed at revamping agriculture, poor access to finance has continued to hinder any meaningful progress. Moreover, most of the interventions and credit facilities provided by the government are interest-based which makes them largely inaccessible to many of the farmers in predominantly Muslim states. Consequently, there is an urgent need for alternative sources of financing agriculture in this part of Nigeria” the director said.

She identified Islamic finance as the missing link that could unlock the huge potentials of the country in agriculture.

The Deputy Vice Chancellor (DVC) admin BUK, Professor Idris Adamu Tanko described the discussion as timely stressing that without access to financing all government initiatives in revamping agriculture would not yield any significant impact.