CBN distributes 10,000 chicks to flag off anchor borrowers programme

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has flagged-off the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) for poultry farmers in Lagos State, with the distribution of 10,000 day old chicks to members of the Erikorodo Poultry Estate Farmers Association, Ikorodu.

The flag off, in collaboration with Bank of Industry (BoI) and Amo Farms, was in line with the Federal Government’s move to boost poultry production in the country.

Head, Development Finance Office, CBN, Adebisi Adedeji, who spoke on behalf of the management team, said the CBN is striving to address the issue of food security and improve food production and generally give people access to credit in the agricultural sector.

He said: “This is the pilot stage for the Anchor Borrowers Programme in Lagos State.  We are kick-starting and we believe this time next year we will have thousands of farmers on the scheme.

“The scheme cuts across poultry, aquaculture, maize and vegetables in Lagos, but we are flagging off the poultry production. We have put a lot of things in place before the commissioning today and I am 100 per cent positive that this is going to be a very successful outing and in five weeks, we will be here to harvest.” 

Speaking on behalf of Amo Farms, the Group Head, Policy and Strategy, Amo Farm Sieberer Hatchery Limited, Francis Toromade, said his farm has been positioned as the anchor for the programme, noting that it would support the farmers in terms of technical assistance.

“So far, we have boarded about 1, 219 farmers nationwide and harvested about 3.8 million birds and paid over N4billion to farmers across the nation.  This is just an addition to what we have been doing and we are happy that it has materialised. As we have started this way, I know the momentum will continue,” Toromade said.

Receiving the chicks on behalf of the farmers, chairman of the association, Justus Eka said the flag off was in line with the Federal Government’s agenda to increase food security and reduce importation, especially of frozen chicken products, adding that they are happy to have keyed into the project by helping government to achieve its aim of making meat protein available to Nigerians.