Stakeholders Laud CBN’s ABP Impact on Nigeria’s Agric Sector

Gilbert Ekugbe

Key agricultural stakeholders have extolled the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) impact on the nation’s agricultural sector.

They stated that pre-ABP saw farmers’ productivity in Nigeria hampered by a number of factors, such as poor funding, inadequate inputs, poor varieties and inability to sell produce profitably following poor access to the market.

The CBN had in line with its developmental mandates in Section 31 of the CBN Act 2007, established the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) to create economic linkages between smallholder farmers and reputable companies (anchors) involved in the production and processing of key agricultural commodities.

The agricultural commodities covered under the ABP include among others, rice, maize, wheat, cotton, cassava, potatoes, yam, ginger, sugarcane, oil palm, cocoa, rubber, soybean, sesame seed, cowpea, tomato, fish, poultry and ruminants.

According to the policy document, the broad objective of the ABP is to create economic linkages between smallholder farmers and processors with a view to increasing agricultural output and ensuring food price stability.

Speaking at an agric event on appraising Nigeria’s agric sector performances under the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, the President of the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN), Mr. Adeola Adegoke, disclosed that the 2020/2021 loans given to some cocoa farmers in the country via the CBN’s ABP helped to boost productivity by at least 10 per cent, with some increasing their produce from 30 to 40 bags of the cocoa beans.

The newly confirmed All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) National President, Mr. Mudi Farouk, in his own speech at the occasion stated that agriculture is now contributing three times more to the country’s GDP than oil.

Farouk said that the core of the programme is to provide loans to smallholder farmers to boost agricultural production, create jobs and reduce the food import bills. 

A Representative of the Flour Millers Association of Nigeria (FMAN), Dr. Oluwasina Olabanji, who spoke on wheat production in Nigeria, said that seeds and input challenges were being addressed by CBN by providing quality seeds from Mexico.  

On his part, the Vice President of Olam Agric, Mr. Reji George, said the scheme is capable of producing more crops for food and industrial uses.