Nigerian farmers may have partake in the ₦105 billion funding facilitated by NIRSAL

The Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) Plc has reportedly facilitated the funding of over ₦105 billion across various agricultural segments which include pre-upstream, upstream, midstream and downstream. 

The system has funded these segments of the agricultural value chain from public and private sources.

In a tweet, NIRSAL noted that rice, maize, cassava, sesame and soybean farmers in Nasarawa, Niger, Kogi and Benue and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will record this financial and harvest gains, following its support for their 2020 wet season farming activities under the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).

The ABP is an initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that loans farmer cash which allows them to weed and maintain their farms.

“As more AGCs develop around the territory and beyond, NIRSAL continues to provide training on bookkeeping and modern farming practices, mechanisation for pre-planting, planting and harvesting activities and distribution of improved, high-yielding seed varieties.”

Read also: 7 farmers in Nigeria who desire to feed the nation 

The organisation has purportedly linked the 926 Federal Capital Territory (FCT) farmers cultivating 1,140 hectares of land with guaranteed offtake markets hence protecting them from price fluctuations and the exploitative tendencies of some middlemen. It also supports the farmers by providing fertilizers, crop protection products and round-the-clock technology-driven project monitoring services.

It is noteworthy that this new development is subsequent to NIRSAL’s structuring of farmers in the FCT into 16 established Agro Geo-Cooperatives (AGCs). Out of the 16 AGCs, 12  are included in the ABP for wet season 2020.

A report has it that till date, over 452 Agro Geo-Cooperatives covering more than  270,000 hectares of land have benefitted from the process through the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).

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