The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that total repayments under its Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) as of the end of February 2023 stood at N0.503 trillion, representing 52.39 per cent.
Disclosing the figures in Abuja over the weekend during a meeting with journalists on the performance of the ABP, the acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Dr. AbdulMumin Isa, added that the balance of N0.119 trillion was not due for repayment.
Isa also said the bank had released the sum of N1.079 trillion, as of February 28, 2023, of which N0.960 trillion was due for repayment.
According to him, by the end of February, the ABP had supported about 4.57 million smallholder farmers who cultivated over 6.02 million hectares of 21 commodities across the country.
He listed the commodities as 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.
Citing statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FOA), Isa noted that the ABP had 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.
While noting that repayments under the ABP are made through cash or produce by the beneficiaries, the acting director stressed that the outstanding due balance on loans was still under moratorium due to the COVID-19 forbearance granted to beneficiaries of the bank’s interventions in March 2020 and extended to February 28, 2022.
He said: “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.”
Isa emphasised that the bank’s interventions, with the core objective of catalysing the Nigerian economy’s productive base, have 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.
