Cross River farmers accuse BoA of failing genuine members, lament govt neglect

Commercial farmers in Cross River State have accused the Bank of Agriculture (BoA) of failing to fulfil its mandate, alleging that genuine farmers are being denied access to credit and other interventions needed to boost food production.

The farmers, including the immediate past Chairman of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) in the state, Chief Ilem Nathaniel, and a commercial fish farmer, Capt. Agba Ukel (retd.), said the bank’s programmes have remained largely inaccessible despite repeated applications.

Nathaniel alleged that only a negligible number of farmers, if any, had benefited from the bank’s facilities, describing the application process as cumbersome and frustrating.

According to him, prospective beneficiaries are often required to open accounts and meet several conditions, only to spend hours waiting at the bank without receiving any meaningful assistance.

“Farmers usually return home in tears after queuing for long hours. We move from one place to another seeking financial support and other interventions without success.

“Even the government appears too distant from farmers, leaving them to fend for themselves,” he said.

Nathaniel blamed low agricultural productivity in the state on poor access to financing and inadequate infrastructure, particularly bad roads and weak transportation networks that make it difficult to evacuate harvested produce.

He maintained that the Bank of Agriculture has become inaccessible to genuine farmers and is no longer effectively serving the purpose for which it was established.

Corroborating the claims, Capt. Ukel said he had fulfilled all the bank’s registration requirements but had yet to receive any meaningful support.

“The bank told me it only provides credit facilities to processors, but even that has hardly happened. Government agricultural financing is also a scam.

“Most of the beneficiaries are people who do not even own farms. Genuine farmers are left without confidence or support, and without financing, it is difficult to expand production,” he said.

Responding to the concerns, the Cross River State Commissioner for Agriculture and Irrigation Development, Johnson Ebokpo, said the state government has established dedicated units within the ministry to receive and address complaints from smallholder farmers.

Speaking at a recent press conference in Calabar, Ebokpo assured farmers that the ministry would facilitate their access to credit facilities from specialised agricultural financial institutions and other intervention programmes.

Efforts to obtain an official reaction from the Bank of Agriculture on the allegations were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report.