The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, said on Friday that commercial banks should increase lending to the agricultural sector to at least five per cent of total loans this year to boost farming output.

Bloomberg quoted Sanusi as saying at the Bankers’ Committee meeting in Lagos on Friday that “agriculture contributes 40 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product and it is the largest employer of labour. Yet it receives one per cent of lending, which is not good enough.”

Sanusi said lending to agriculture currently made up one per cent of credit by banks.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, farming contributes the biggest share of Nigeria’s economic output and employs more than half of its 150 million population, most as small-scale farmers.

The Federal Government, which relies on oil exports for more than 80 per cent of its revenue, is trying to reduce that dependence to help sustain economic growth.


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