The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL Plc), has facilitated the flow of over \u20a673 billion into Nigeria\u2019s Agro Processing industry from various sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NIRSAL Managing Director, Aliyu Abdulhameed, disclosed this at a media session on Tuesday in Abuja.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said these sources include deposit money banks, development financiers, private equity investment firms and other financial institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is in carrying out our mandate of creating a stronger linkage between segments of Nigeria\u2019s Agricultural Value Chain (AVC) and subsequent AVC-linkage to commercial bank finance, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said NIRSAL Plc\u2019s strategic support to Agro Processors which operates within the midstream segment of the AVC creates a profit-driven ecosystem in which farmers in the upstream AVC segment have a reliable market in the form of Agro Processors who offtake farmers\u2019 produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNIRSAL Plc\u2019s support comes at a time when developing economies are increasingly shifting from only producing raw materials to both production and value addition for increased economic activity, bolstering foreign exchange earnings and widespread social development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201d Other beneficiaries of NIRSAL Plc\u2019s finance-facilitation include pre-upstream, upstream and downstream AVC operators involved in Inputs Production and Supply, Mechanization Service Provision, Primary Production and Logistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201d This feat, which has made a notable contribution to the Federal Government\u2019s Agric promotion drive, was achieved through NIRSAL Plc\u2019s effective deployment of its Credit Risk Guarantee (CRG) instrument,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, he explained that the NIRSAL CRG is NIRSAL Plc\u2019s core product used to share agribusiness-related credit risks with commercial banks and financiers by up to 75 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201d By protecting financiers and investors from possible losses in a credit transaction, NIRSAL Plc has built up their confidence to lend to players in the Agric sector, a sector once widely considered as a no-go area in finance circles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201d Backed by the NIRSAL CRG, farmer groups and agribusinesses which before the introduction of the NIRSAL CRG, found it difficult to secure loan approvals from commercial banks, now enjoy smoother approval processes for the loans they require to expand their operations, increase their profits and enhance their livelihoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201d To provide further support to Nigeria\u2019s farmers and agribusinesses, NIRSAL Plc, through its Interest Drawback (IDB) scheme, goes the extra mile to reward diligent borrower behaviour through discretionary rebates of up to 40 per cent of interest paid on NIRSAL CRG-backed agribusiness loans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201d To date, NIRSAL Plc has paid out over \u20a61.64 billion, thereby reducing the effective interest rate for borrowers with a good credit history,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to him, the injection of finance into the Agric sector through NIRSAL Plc has resulted in broad socio-economic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAgribusiness owners have been able to expand their operations and increase their staff strength, with NIRSAL CRG beneficiaries attesting to a 20-60 per cent increase in capacity utilization, productivity, number of markets served and sales value,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NIRSAL Plc\u2019s latest achievement, he said, also coincides with the development of the Nigeria Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) Program across the country to which NIRSAL Plc is offering its support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NIRSAL boss also made it known that in line with NIRSAL Plc\u2019s finance-facilitation mandate, SAPZ would mobilise private sector investment into the selected zones to enhance productivity and integrate production, processing and marketing of Agric commodities.<\/p>\n\n\n
The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL Plc), has facilitated the flow of over \u20a673 billion into Nigeria\u2019s Agro Processing industry from various sources. NIRSAL Managing Director, Aliyu Abdulhameed, disclosed this at a media session on Tuesday in Abuja. He said these sources include deposit money banks, development financiers, private equity investment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41160,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[949],"tags":[1299],"class_list":["post-41159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","tag-nirsal","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"yoast_head":"\n