Banks’ lending to agricultural activities rose by N212.64 billion between December 2010 and October last year. According to a report titled “Bankers’ Committee on Economic Development Agenda and Scorecard, “agric lending increased by a nominal value of N212.64 billion as at October last year, which represented a 37.6 per cent increase over 2010 lending.”

The report also indicated that lending to the agric sector rose by 2.78 per cent of total gross lending in the banking sector by October last year, as against the comparable period of the previous year.

The report, which was presented to the Bankers’ Committee recently, indicated that the increase in credit was made possible by definite policy measures initiated and implemented by the deposit money banks in the past year.

“Agric departments and desks were set up at all banks in the country to provide specialised agric lending services while thirty banking professionals were trained on agric commercial lending and Development Credit Authority and guarantees in the past year,” the report stated.

The Bankers’ Committee had in 2010 following a retreat in Calabar, Cross Rivers State, taken a position to finance critical sectors of the economy as a major departure from financing operators in the financial markets and trading activities in a bid to ensure sustained economic development in the country.

The Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and the chief executives of the 24 banks collectively emphasized the critical role financial institutions play in national development, noting that unfortunately; the current structure of lending to the Nigerian economy was such that the bulk of aggregate credit is channeled mainly to financial market operators and oil traders to the neglect of key aspects of the real economy such as power, agriculture, transportation, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), among others.

The assets deployment of banks in the power and transportation sectors also got a boost as “144 professionals were trained across commercial banks and development finance institutions (DFIs) as well as government agencies to facilitate infrastructure project financing,” according to the Report.