Coalitions of farmers in the north-central region of Nigeria have commended the unwavering commitment of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to agricultural development through its Anchor Borrowers’ Program (ABP).
This commendation was made on behalf of farmers by Emmanuel Afolabi, president of the Agro Geo-Cooperatives (AGC), Dobi chapter, during the organizing of Abuja farmers by the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) into 16 established cooperatives, 12 of which are included in the 2020 wet season ABP.
Afolabi thanked the federal government and NIRSAL for their involvement in the loan program, promising that the AGC would ensure its successful implementation. Meanwhile, he requested for support and inclusion for more farmers in the Dobi community next year.
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NIRSAL is a non-bank financial institution wholly -owned by the (CBN). It was created to stimulate the flow of affordable finance and investments in the agricultural sector by de-risking the agribusiness finance value chain and institutionalizing incentives for agricultural lending.
NIRSAL plans to support the on-going farming activities of producer from the north-central region of Nigeria including rice, maize, cassava, sesame and soybean farmers in Nasarawa, Niger, Kogi and Benue States as well as in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Ayo Olaleye, head of NIRSAL’s Project Monitoring, Reporting and Remediation Office in the FCT, informed farmers that NIRSAL’s managing director and CEO, Aliyu Abdulhameed, will continue to prioritize farmers’ needs.
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Olaleye said that under Abdulhameed’s leadership, NIRSAL will work not only on the implementation of the bank’s ABP , but also on the development and delivery of frameworks that will further open the banking sector to agriculture – the Agro Geo-Cooperative model being one of them.
He added that NIRSAL’s Agro Geo-Cooperative model, upon which it is performing its role as a participating financial institution in the ABP, is a demonstration of increasing multi-sectoral support for agriculture.
