HOW FARMERS CAN USE THEIR PRODUCE FOR BANK LOAN – NCX BOSS

The MD/CEO of the Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX), Mrs Zaheera Baba-Ari, has said farmers can now use their farm produce as collateral to secure loans from banks.

To do this, Mrs Baba-Ari advised farmers to get in touch with the commodity brokers in their localities, who will help them aggregate their harvest and store them in the NCX’s warehouses situated across the country.

She said the farmers would be immediately issued with the receipt of such commodity and the receipt can be taken to banks as collateral to secure loan.

Mrs Baba-Ari, who spoke exclusively with Daily Trust in Abuja, said aside from such benefit, middlemen can no longer shortchange the farmers as their produce can now be sold on the floor of the exchange at attractive prices.

“The farmers can also keep their produce immediately after the harvest in our well-managed warehouses nationwide and avoid selling them immediately to the middlemen at ridiculously low prices, sometimes even below the production cost,’’ she advised.

The MD said the exchange was been strengthened to ensure that farmers, who formed co-operatives and patronised it, reaped maximum benefits, adding that was what informed the recent sensitisation programmes carried out in agrarian localities in some selected states across the country.

Farmers, who spoke at the events, called on the relevant authorities to pay attention to the NCX in view of its contributions to the development of farmers in the country.