Umuahia— Farmers in Abia State, under the auspices of All Farmers Association of Nigeria, AFAN, are making desperate efforts to obtain the organisation’s identification cards as a pre-requisite to accessing the Federal Government N1 billion agricultural loan.

The state government has already organised a sensitisation workshop for the farmers in readiness for the exercise.

Small scale farmers in the state, who wish to benefit from the largesse, have been directed to pay N1,100 for the identity cards.

Chief Dunlop Okoro, Chairman, Abia chapter of AFAN, said in Umuahia that farmers in the state were eagerly waiting for the commencement of the disbursement  exercise.

He said: “The state government had announced its readiness to apply for the loan and I am only praying that this will be actualised.”

“Farmers have been made to register with the Ministry of Agriculture to obtain their identity cards.

“I am asking the ministry to make sure that these identity cards are made available to farmers and also make sure they access the loan.”

Okoro said farmers in the state had long borne the pains of neglect due to lack of funds “and we have waited for this type of opportunity.’’

“The Commissioner for Agriculture, Chief Ike Onyenweaku, has assured us that the loan will be ready by December and I am praying that it will be feasible.’’

He said that farmers in the state had no reason to doubt the authenticity of the identity card project.

“In the past promises had been made but not met. With the new commissioner everything he has said since he assumed office has been met.

“So we believe this one too,” he said.

Okoro said that the small scale farmers who would be the ultimate beneficiaries of the loan had long expected such intervention.

“If the governor signs that loan, what it means is that the few commercial farmers in the state will access it without collateral.

“That is why we are anxious about the money,” he said.

Okoro said that AFAN would strictly monitor the disbursement  to make sure that only genuine farmers benefited from it.

He said that some of the challenges faced by farmers in the past included dearth of credit and storage facilities.

He said that the silos cited in Okigwe for states in the South East would be a relief from their previous incapacitation.

“We thank the Federal Government for citing the silos so that we can have a place to store our reserves,” Okoro said.