Brazil said it has set aside $100 million for the promotion of agribusiness finance in Nigeria and is ready to increase it to $1 billion in the next three years.
This was disclosed wednesday by Brazil’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Francisco Carlos Soares Luz, during a symposium on agribusiness finance, with the theme: “Making Agribusiness Bankable: Lenders and Investors Expectations,” which was organised by the Financial Services Group (FSG) of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).
Luz, said the fund was meant to enable Nigerian farmers to access agro machineries from Brazil.
He said Brazil would assist Nigeria in cassava and sugar cane production.
“These are more than food products. We generate 8000 megawatts of electricity and ethanol for fuel from sugar cane in Brazil,” he added.
The Nigerian agriculture sector, according to President of LCCI, Mr. Babatunde Paul Ruwase, attracted$169.37 million foreign direct investment between April and June 2019.
He said: “Research conducted locally and internationally confirmed a positive correlation between agriculture finance and agriculture development. Nigeria need to scale up investments in improving agriculture yield and integrating the value chain over the next decade to effectively capture a significant share of the market.”
