How CBN will disburse N20b loan to rice farmers

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, will on Tuesday inaugurate its N20b Anchor Borrowers Program for rice farmers..

The official launching of the program will be done by President Muhammadu Buhari in Kebbi State.

The CBN said that it is aimed at creating an Ecosystem to link out-growers (Small Holder Farmers) to local processors.

The apex bank said that under the Anchor Borrowers Program, ABP, it has earmarked N20 billion out of the N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) for farmers at a single-digit interest rate of 9.0 per cent to address the challenges of poor funding. 

The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele who met with rice farmers recently highlighted the conditions for accessing the loan. 

“The farmer must be a member of a validated cooperative society before applying for the loan. We will find out how much it will take to produce one hectare of rice to determine the amount that will be given to each individual. The idea is to enhance efficient management of the resources” he said.

He explained that the key features of the new initiative include the Identification and selection of small holder farmers, grouping of out-growers into viable cooperatives/clusters, registration of the cooperatives, determination of the economics of selection and engagement of banks/ insurance companies, capacity building of out-growers, banks’ staff and extension agents and the supply of agro inputs at the appropriate time.