The Cocoa and Plantain Farmers Association of Nigeria has said a loan of N2.5bn has been secured for its members from a commercial bank to support their farming businesses.
This was made public by the National President of the association, Ayodele Ojo, at the second-anniversary celebration of the group in Akure, the Ondo State capital, while adding that the disbursement of the loan would start in April this year.
He applauded President Muhammadu Buhari for the support given to the association and added that the association had applied to the Central Bank of Nigeria for the loan.
He said, “We thank God it’s two years today we started the association; we are currently in 26 states. We thank the government for the support given to us. We wrote the CBN and they have replied us too. Very soon, the bank would release the money to the cocoa and plantain farmers.
“We wrote the CBN requesting for N2.5bn for our members who spread across 18 states of the federation. We have a membership of over 3,000 before, but now we are over 60,000. By the end of April, the loan would be disbursed.”
The CPFAN president said the association had established plantain processing factories in Anambra State, adding that there was a plan to establish cocoa and plantain factories across the six geopolitical zones of the country.
