Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says 6.39 million farmers have been enumerated across states under the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) agriculture scheme.
He disclosed this at opening ceremony of a two-day Mid-Term Ministerial Performance Review Retreat on Monday at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja.
Osinbajo chairs the Economic Sustainability Committee (ESC) to coordinate the implementation of the N2.3 trillion ESP fund aimed at cushioning the economic effects of COVID-19 pandemic.
He said the farmers had been verified and tagged to their lands through which they would get subsidies.
“We know where their farms are and we know where their lands are; so far, 363million passed the first stage of validation and another 2.47million passed the second stage of validation,” Osinbajo said.
“ We are validating them also for BVN; those who do not have BVNs are getting BVNs.’’
He said 320 hectares of land each had been cleared in Kwara, Plateau, Cross River, Edo, Kaduna, Ekiti and Osun States, for the scheme.
“These are states that require land clearing; N447 billion is allocated as loans to farmers across 14 crop value chains be it production, aqua culture and poultry farming,” he said.
“ But so far, only N14 billion has been disbursed to commercial banks and even this sum is yet to be utilised by farmers due to the late release for the 2021 wet farming season.’’
