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LAGOS, March 24 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank has approved a 200 million U.S. dollars credit facility to further support Nigeria, in its efforts to enhance agricultural productivity of small and medium scale farmers.
The loan is in recognition of agriculture as the key to long-term economic growth and diversification, the Word Bank Country Director, Rachid Benmessaoud said in a statement reaching Xinhua in Lagos, the nation's economic hub Friday.
He said the credit is being financed from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank Group's grant and low-interest arm.
According to him, it will be on standard IDA terms, with a maturity of 25 years, including a grace period of 5 years.
Benmessaoud said the project will tackle the key constraints of the Nigeria agriculture sector, such as low productivity, lack of seed funds for establishing agro-processing plants and lack of access to supportive infrastructure.
He said it will also solve the problems of low level of technology and limited access to markets.
Benmessaoud added that the project would benefit women and youth businesses in areas such as horticulture, poultry and aquaculture. Enditem
