The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says 3.8 million farmers have so far benefited from its Anchor Borrowers\u2019 Programme (ABP).<\/p>\n\n\n
Mr Yila Yusuf, Director, Development Finance Department of the apex bank, made this known in Abuja.<\/p>\n\n\n
Yusuf said N554.61 billion had been disbursed through the programme since inception in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n
He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for taking the initiative to start the programme.<\/p>\n\n\n
He said the programme had done a lot to help farmers improve their yields and generate employment.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cWe have to commend President Buhari for putting the ABP in place. Over 3.8 million farmers have so far benefited from the programme.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cThe multiplier effect on the economy is huge.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cThe ABP has helped farmers improve their yields. For maize we now do five metric tonnes per hectare and for rice we\u2019re improving from four metric tonnes to 10 metric tonnes per hectare.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cWe will be trying out some Brazilian seeds that we will give to the anchors and their association,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n
He said the CBN was making efforts to keep prices stable and to ensure food security.<\/p>\n\n\n
He said the programme had contributed to food sufficiency during the global lockdown occasioned by COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cApart from jobs that have been created, there is also productivity, which is important to CBN.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cWe also look at how we can keep prices stable because food security is very important.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cA lot of countries went into protectionist mood due to COVID-19, if we did not have this programme we would be in serious trouble,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n
The director said the CBN was taking steps to make staple foods like rice affordable to the masses.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cWe are guaranteeing a minimum support price for the farmers. We allocate rice to the mills and we follow up; the price is already reacting.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cYou can get it for around N19,000 now, and you can be sure that the rice is fresh and it is healthy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n
He said the programme was also going into a Strategic Maize Programme to stabilise the price of maize.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cWe realised that the prices of maize are continuously increasing.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cWhat we have done is to guarantee all the output from the anchor and put it into the strategic programme and release to the millers.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cThis is to warn those hoarding the produce that the prices will crash and they will lose,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n
He said as a way of encouraging more farmers into ABP, the bank no longer took cash from them as repayment for their loans.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cWe rate every single commodity they produce and guarantee the prices. This will encourage more farmers to enrol in the programme,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says 3.8 million farmers have so far benefited from its Anchor Borrowers\u2019 Programme (ABP). Mr Yila Yusuf, Director, Development Finance Department of the apex bank, made this known in Abuja. Yusuf said N554.61 billion had been disbursed through the programme since inception in 2015. He commended President Muhammadu Buhari […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[400],"class_list":["post-28666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-farmers","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"yoast_head":"\n