Abuja, March 6, 2023 – Farmers who took loans under the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) of the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) have repaid 52.39 per cent of the loans.
The farmers had repaid N0.503 trillion, remaining the balance of N0.119 trillion not due for repayment as at Feb. 2023.
The Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) was introduced by the CBN in 2015 as part of its intervention funds to farmers.
Dr. AbdulMumin Isa, the CBN Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, said the CBN had released total of N1.079 trillion to farmers underthe programme.
He said the ABP had supported 4.57 million smallholder farmers who cultivated over 6.02 million hectares of 21 commodities across the country.
Isa listed the commodities planted by the farmers to include rice, wheat, cowpea, millet, maize, cotton, fish, soya bean, poultry, cassava, groundnut, ginger, sorghum, oil palm, cocoa, sesame, tomato, castor seed, yellow pepper, onions, and cattle/dairy.
He said the ABP had also contributed significantly to the increased national output of focal commodities, with maize and rice peaking at 12.2 and 9.0 million metric tonnes in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
He said the programme had also helped to improve the national average yield per hectare of these commodities, with productivity per hectare almost doubling within the eight years of the Programme’s implementation.
“It is pertinent to note that the tenor of loans under the ABP is based on the commodity gestation period.
“For instance, loans granted to farmers cultivating some perennial crops could have up to seven-year tenor,” he said.
Isa said the bank’s interventions had continued to support investments in capital assets in sectors with high-growth and employment-elastic potential.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria remains committed to its developmental mandate of stimulating access to finance for the real sector, particularly agriculture, as it continues to support the Federal Government’s drive for food security and economic growth.
“Accordingly, the Central Bank of Nigeria continues to welcome applications from eligible Nigerian farmers and firms under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme,” he said. (GBN)
