Additional 300,000 farmers to benefit in expanded Anchor Borrowers’ Programme of CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has formed partnerships with agricultural commodity associations across the country in its effort to expand the implementation of the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).

The Acting Director of Corporate Communications Department (CCD) of the Bank, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, who disclosed this in Abuja on Wednesday, said the decision to enter into strategic partnerships was to consolidate on the gains of the ABP and reach more deserving smallholder farmers nationwide.

“The CBN is forming these partnerships to further ramp up domestic production of identified commodities by leveraging the existing organized structures of the agricultural associations nationwide, thereby providing huge economies of scale in the implementation of the programme.”

According to Okorafor, the strategic partnership had begun to yield results with the commencement of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) Anchor Borrowers’ Programme with the Bank of Agriculture where about 300,000 rice farmers across 20 States would be supported under the ABP during the upcoming dry season cultivation.

He said an additional two million metric tonnes of paddy rice was expected to be produced under the dedicated RIFAN Anchor Borrowers’ Programme.  He added that the strategic partnership with RIFAN was in tandem with the Federal Government’s agenda for Nigeria to be self-sufficient in rice production in the future.

Okorafor further said that all registered agricultural commodity associations could key into this strategic partnership by simply approaching any of the Participating Financial Institutions (PFI) collaborating with the CBN in the implementation of the programme.

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme was launched by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 17, 2015 in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State.

The project has so far achieved success in terms of outreach and coverage, making it one of the most successful CBN development finance interventions to date. About N45.5 billion has been released through 13 Participating Financial Institutions in respect of over 218,000 farmers cultivating nine commodities across 30 states.