CBN’s intervention reaches 400,000 farmers

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says more than 400,000 farmers have so far received its support under the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) to cultivate 12 crops, including rice, soya, maize, palm produce, cotton and cassava.

The support, estimated at more than N56 billion since inception, has, however, raised local food production, saved foreign exchange and created jobs.

While flagging off input distribution for the 2018 wet season farming in Cross River State, CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, reiterated the bank’s resolve to take agriculture back to its enviable position as a business venture through the intervention.

But he pointed out that genuine farmers must key into the technology-driven input distribution system with a view to benefiting from the low interest rate of nine per cent the facility offers.

According to him, the biometric capturing, which identified farmers with specific farmland through mapping, has eliminated the issue of ‘absentee’ or non-practising farmers benefiting from the inputs and other facilities.

Meanwhile, the apex bank, yesterday, reiterated its pledge to support the more than 12,000 farmers registered under the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) in Cross River.

The bank said the support would be with a view to repositioning agriculture as a business venture for employment generation, wealth creation and self-sufficiency in food production in the country at large and the state in particular.