FG says e-wallet is for extremely poor farmers

Dr. Olukayode Oyeleye, the Special Assistant on Media and Strategy to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Friday. He spoke to NAN on the sideline of a two-day International Cocoa Conference organised by the Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN). […]

Dr. Olukayode Oyeleye, the Special Assistant on Media and Strategy to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Friday. He spoke to NAN on the sideline of a two-day International Cocoa Conference organised by the Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN).

Oyeleye said that the e-wallet system was designed to assist the poor farmers who hitherto had been unable to afford basic agricultural inputs.

According to him, the scheme is designed for only three years, to enable the farmers afford the basic inputs to improve their production.

“The Growth Enhancement Support Scheme is an intervention meant to lift the poor farmers in terms of enabling them to be able to afford the basic inputs like fertiliser and some other forms of agro-chemicals.

“It is meant to be applied in such a way that first year, second year, third year, the farmers are enabled to procure the inputs that they need such that subsequently, they would now be able to have money to purchase these things without a recourse to this kind of intervention any more.

“So, it is not meant for big farmers, it is meant for extremely poor farmers, it’s meant to be used for about three years after which they will have moved up and they will now be empowered financially.’’

Oyeleye said that those who had misgivings about the scheme failed to embrace the scheme or did not believe it would work.

He explained how the scheme works. “The way it works is such that states and Federal Government contribute 25 per cent to the cost of those inputs.”