Bank of Agriculture targets 30 million farmers with mobile money

The Bank of Agriculture has entered into a partnership with Cellulant of Kenya to provide mobile money banking services to about 30 million Nigerian farmers.

The move will enable farmers to enjoy broader base services by leveraging the payment system for money transfers.

They will also be able to access their accounts through the mobile phone, as well as engage in electronic banking transactions using Automatic Teller Machine cards.

The Managing Director, BoA, Mr. Mohammed Santuraki, who spoke to journalists shortly after the signing of the pact in Abuja, stated that the mobile money banking services to farmers would serve as revolution to the agricultural sector.

He also said the partnership would assist in driving financial inclusion services in the country.

This, he noted, would be achieved through an ecosystem that would “integrate the un-banked, rural people, banks, microfinance banks, insurance companies, commodity traders, agro-credit guarantee agencies and bilateral institutions together seamlessly in such a way and manner that value and interactions that lift the rural poor out of poverty can take place.”

This, Santuraki added, would leverage mobile payments and near field communications technology to bring savings, micro-loans, micro-insurance, loan aggregation, money transfer, and crop-insurance to people at the grass roots.

The BoA managing director noted that within the last 10 years, the bank had enjoyed a turnover of about N350bn in its customers’ savings accounts.

Santuraki added that the BoA’s plan “is that by the time we go live, we should be able to provide services in all the local government areas in this country, using mobile phone and mobile banking agents.”

Also speaking at the event, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Cellulant, Mr. Ken Njoroge, said Nigeria had a large domestic market.