Although Mr Ezekiel said he has no accurate data, he gave a rough estimate of local farmers known through various informal groups in and around the town to be over 200. This, he said, excludes others who help them on their farms during harvest. But, according to him, many of these farmers live in penury because they realise very little from the sale of their produce.
Farmers who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES across selected Ogun communities, however, said that no such initiative has been extended to them. The closest to such initiative was when a group of anonymous individuals approached them and told them to create a group with which their unnamed organisation would support the farmers in their farming activities, said Mr Ezekiel. He added that the nature of the support was unknown, just as the identity of the individuals.
An elderly farmer who cultivates tomatoes, cassava, maize and other produce in Elewu-lekan village attributed poor pricing to the conditions of the farm produce offered for sale. The CBN, commenting on same concern, said evidence shows that appropriate financial services can help improve household welfare and spur small enterprise activity. “There is also macroeconomic evidence to demonstrate that economies with deeper financial intermediation tend to grow faster and reduce income inequality,” the bank said in its strategy document.Financial Exclusion As Driver of Poverty
Mr Babatunde, who spoke in Yoruba, argued that bank accounts are best enjoyed when the holder is learned enough to operate it without major assistance from any third party. He made reference to reported cases of credit card fraud and related crimes as a possible cause of fear. “How much is the money that one would need to take to the bank?” he asked. “I can handle the money, whether it is N50,000 or N80,000. Sometimes the money is not even up to that,” he added.
But as more and more Nigerians remain financially excluded from the ecosystem, especially in rural communities, traditional alternatives remain the only option for many. Mr Aliu opined, however, that based on his and other farmers’ experience in the hands of thrift collectors, farmers’ groups and other related credit organisations, there would be the need for extant monitoring and regulation to ensure that the mandate of financial inclusion is realised.
The truth hard oo