NAIC to Partner Banks on Agro Risk Management Services

Chiamaka Ozulumba

Managing Director of the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC), Folashade Joseph has disclosed that her agency is committed to forging appropriate partnerships with Deposit Money Banks in the fulfilment of their mandate through provision of appropriate risk management services to agricultural investors being financed by the banks.

She disclosed this yesterday in Kaduna during a capacity building programme organised to enlighten the Agric Desk Officers of Deposit Money Banks on how to implement the risk component of CACS.

According to her, “risk management remains an integral part of any modern day Agric financing model, as such the Central Bank of Nigeria has deemed it fit to ensure that any agricultural investor accessing the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme facility must have the project insured by the NAIC.”

Joseph stated that “the deposit money banks and other financial institutions have been NAIC’s major distribution channels over the years, with the deposit money banks, as Credit Providers, and NAIC, as risk management service provider.”

Stressing the readiness of NAIC to improve its services to conform to modern realities, NAIC’s MD said: “I wish to state that NAIC is poised to improve its services in the area of product development, claims payments, valuable farm extension services across the entire agricultural value chain”.

She noted that “risk management remains an integral part of modern day agric-financing model, as such the CBN had deemed it fit to ensure that any agric investor accessing the CACS facility must have the project insured by NAIC as stated in the current lending guidelines for CACS loan” to protect the project from failing due to unforeseen risks.”

In his address, Director, Development Financing Department of the CBN, Dr. M.A Olaitan, while praising the efforts of NAIC stared that the CBN had always been a vanguard for advancing credit to the real sector of the economy.
“It has over the years designed and implemented various schemes and programmes aimed at addressing the problem of limited access to credit by MSMEs especially those based in the rural areas.”
He also commended the lending banks for the successful implementation of the CACS.

“I would like to commend the lending banks for the successful operationalisation of CACS so far and also to inform you that from inception of the scheme in 2009 to September 21, 2017, the sum of N501.697 billion was disbursed to 526 projects of which 65 are state government projects”, he added.