Commercial banks guarantee N424.6m to 4,029 farmers

Under the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme (ACGS), commercial banks in the country guaranteed N424.6 million to 4,029 farmers in May 2017, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed in its late report.
The report said amount represents a decline of 9.6 and 24.4 per cent below the levels in the preceding month and the corresponding period of 2016, respectively.
The report shows that Sub-sectoral analysis showed that the food crops received the largest share of N226.1 million (53.3 per cent) guaranteed to 2,699 beneficiaries, livestock got N62.2 million (14.7 per cent) guaranteed to 282 beneficiaries, while cash crops sub-sector received N44.4 million (10.5 per cent) guaranteed to 221 beneficiaries.
“The mixed crops received N42.2 million (9.9 per cent) guaranteed to 597 beneficiaries while N38.3 million (9.0 per cent) was guaranteed to 137 beneficiaries, in the fisheries subsector, ‘others’ had N11.2 million (2.6 per cent) guaranteed to 93 beneficiaries.
The report by CBN showed that 27 states (including Abuja) benefited from the Scheme during the review month with the highest and lowest sums of N60.7 million (14.3 per cent) and N9.5 million (0.2 per cent) guaranteed to Ogun and Bayelsa states, respectively.
“As at May 22, 2017, the total amount released since inception by the CBN under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS) to participating banks for disbursement, amounted to N467.7 billion in respect of 509 projects.
“Agricultural activities received a boost across the country in May 2017 as a result of the prevalent rainfall in the review period. Activities in the Southern states were dominated by planting of crops, while the major activities in the Northern states were early planting of legumes and harvesting of vegetables. In the livestock sub-sector, farmers continued with the breeding of poultry and migration of cattle from the Northern states to the Southern states in search of greener pastures.
“To revive the collapsing Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) Sector, the Raw Material Research and Development Council (RMRDC) provided four (4) metric tonnes of improved cotton seeds to the National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN). Similarly, the Sugar Industry received a boost with the investment of N220 billion by the Dangote Group for the establishment of two (2) sugar refineries in Nasarawa State,” the report stated.