The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said through its various interventions in the agricultural sector, at least 1.5m small holder farmers have accessed loans at single digit interest rate from its partner banks.
The CBN said the farmers are cultivating over 1.6 million hectares of various agricultural commodities. This is even as the bank has said Nigeria’s food import bills dropped by a significant $2.81bn from about $3.40bn as at 2014 to $0.59bn in 2018. The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin I. Emefiele stated this yesterday at the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), Senior Policy Seminar XXII conference in Abuja.
The Seminar provides an avenue to pool together, a team of high-level policy makers across Africa to dialogue and exchange ideas, as well as review policy-relevant findings of research studies on the theme conducted by the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) and its affiliates. This year focused on the challenging food environment and burden of malnutrition in Africa.
The CBN governor who was represented by the CBN Director Corporate Communications, Mr. Isaac Okorafor said “Africa is not winning the war against acute hunger and malnutrition.” In Nigeria, he said the CBN has forged alliances with financial and non-financial institutions to improve smallholder farmers’ access to finance in furtherance of its developmental mandate, create wealth, employment and reduce poverty.
“In recent years the Bank has set up two major vehicles – The Nigeria Incentives-based Risk Sharing for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and the National Collateral Registry (NCR), and currently leverages both in the implementation of intervention programmes in the agricultural sector such as the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), Agriculture Credit Guarantee Scheme (ACGS), Agribusiness Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS).
“Across the country, these programmes have been implemented with resounding success – expanding credits with single digit interest rate to about 1.5 million smallholder farmers cultivating over 1.6 million hectares of various agricultural commodities” he explained. According to him, “the programmes have also helped to reduce the nation’s food import bill from about US $3.40 billion as at 2014 to US $0.59 billion in 2018.”
