The Director, External Relations and Capacity Building of Maximizing Agricultural Revenue and Key Enterprises in Targeted Sites II, Mr Godson Ononiwu has said the outfit has facilitated N20 billion rural and agricultural loans for Nigerian farmers.

He said the outfit has also mobilised Nigerian farmers to achieve N78 billion value of sales for Markets II commodities. The outfit is being funded by the United States Agency for International Development.

Ononiwu made these disclosures during Markets' II presentation of a tractor to Anfani Kin Kpada Tifin Cooperative Farming Society Limited at Kpada, Patigi local government area of Kwara State. "We are providing the tractor not only to support the cooperative society and its members in furthering their own production opportunities, but also to allow them to develop a commercial tractor business to service the other farmers in their communities," he stated.

He added that a key strategy of Markets II is to provide grants to farmer groups, carefully selecting those with a record of good agricultural performance, who consider farming as a business, and demonstrate team work and who can serve as models to others. He added that due to the project's interventions, the farmers have strengthened their groups' leadership and business capabilities, and increased efficiencies, production and income for their members.

Ononiwu said mechanisation is a key ingredient to enabling Nigerian farmers develop profitable commercial farming activities. "Markets II is providing mechanisation and capacity building grants to 29 high-performing farmer groups across the Northern, Middle Belt and Southern region of Nigeria. Mechanisation includes tractors, power tillers, multi-crop threshers, irrigation water pumps, fish smoking kilns and mist blowers for agricultural spraying services.

"Capacity building support includes steering committee formation, group dynamics and leadership, business planning, record keeping and reporting and ongoing advisory services. The project contributes to increasing production and incomes across 24 states," he said.

The chairman of the cooperative society, Abdul- Gana Lukpada said with the tractor donation, Market II had rekindled the efforts of cooperative societies in the area to work for bigger achievements in future. He stated that the farming cooperative has increased from cultivating 119 hectares of land to 595 hectares with assistance from Agricultural Concepts Limited, on behalf of USAID.