The Managing Director of Keystone Bank Ltd., Mr Philip Ikeazor, disclosed that N300 million had been approved for primary producers in the agricultural value chain, particularly the rice farmers.
Ikeazor said in a statement on Sunday in Lagos that the bank’s plans was to increase funding to N1 billion in the immediate future.
He also said the bank would sustain its support for the agricultural initiatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and government’s efforts to diversify the economy through investment in the sector.
The managing director said some of the bank’s projects had reached advanced stages.
He said they included 47 rice cooperative farmers with 500 members in Taraba and 29 in Sokoto with 296 members in Sokoto State.
Other, the bank chief said, were 28 rice cooperative farmers with 381 members in Zamfara and 10 in Anambra State with100 members.
Ikeazor said agriculture remained a veritable source of the country’s economic diversification strategy and would be accorded importance by the bank.
He urged farmers, processors, state governments and investors to approach the bank and access funds for their rice projects.(NAN)
