Whereas the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) claims that about 2.85 million farmers benefitted from the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) from the inception of the scheme to the end of 2020, it has continued to be silent on failed efforts it has been making in recouping the loans.
According to figures obtained from the apex on Monday, N554.63bn had been disbursed, of which N61.02bn was allocated to 359,370 dry season farmers. The CBN also stated in its last October monthly report that under the Anchor Borrowers Programme, the sum of N1.9bn was disbursed to 2,521 farmers to cultivate 8,963 hectares of land through three participating financial institutions. It said the funds was disbursed to farmers cultivating 3,097,834 hectares across some commodities, namely; cassava, cotton, fish, ground nut, maize, poultry, rice, soya beans, wheat, cattle, sorghum, ginger, castor seed, sesame, tomato, cocoa, yellow pepper, oil palm, cowpea and onion. The CBN stated that it guaranteed N1.bn to 10,105 farmers under the ACGS in September 2020.
This amount represented an increase of 221.8 per cent above the level in August 2020. A sub-sectoral analysis indicated that food crops obtained the largest share of N461m guaranteed to 4,744 beneficiaries. Mixed crops registered N405.3m guaranteed to 4,850 beneficiaries. Livestock, cash crops, fishery, and others received N73.9m, N33.5m, N25.8m, and N9.8m guaranteed to 238, 167, 67, and 39 beneficiaries, respectively.
