Chairman of Oyo State Agricultural Credit Corporation of Oyo State (ACCOS), Alhaji Taofik Akeugbagold, on Tuesday assured of fairness and credibility in disbursing the one billion Naira loan to farmers.
Akeugbagold, during a tour of the seven geo-political zones in the state which ended on Tuesday, said some criteria have therefore been designed to ensure geographical spread.
Speaking at Iseyin in the Oke Ogun Zone 1, he said the sensitisation tour was to interact and identify genuine farmers in the state.
“To access the one billion Naira single digit interest loan under the Sustainable Action for Economic Recovery (SAfER) Sub-committee, an applicant must be a duly recognised farmer.
“ACCOS will guard against giving loans to ‘farmers on paper’. This will ensure that the targeted farmers benefit from the gesture,” the Chairman said.
He explained that after the sensitisation exercise, application forms would be available at each Local Government Area at the office of the Director of Agriculture.
Akeugbagold added that the ACCOS Field Officers and the identified banks in each domain would be involved in the process.
“The form can only be collected individually and free of charge. The social media or internet is not a sales point.
”Also, no official of ACCOS or the Ministry of Agriculture will liaise with residents on the internet.
“An applicant will also need a civil servant, from Grade Level 07 and above, as a guarantor, depending on the amount of loan requested,” he said.
“However, please note that group lending will not be entertained” the Chairman stated.
Speaking also, the ACCOS General Manager, Comrade Emmanuel Ogundiran, revealed that farmers owing the corporation, state government or any of the participating financial institutions would not have access.
”They can only get it after they are cleared by the corporation or the participating institutions.”
He assured that the exercise would not be politicised in any form, saying the state government through the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has equally trained farmers on climate resilience.
Ogundiran added that the government has put plans in place to enhance peaceful co-existence between herders and farmers, through continuous meetings with the affected parties.(NAN)
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