Farmers under the aegis of Lamido Cooperative Farmers Association recently gathered at Lamido Cooperative Office Hall, Bank Road, Amadu Bello Way, Kaduna to review the last harvest season’s activities. Highlights of the meeting included progress on farm activities and yield outcomes; loan recovery status and challenges; utilisation and need for storage facilities and marketing strategies for farm produce and value chain access among others.

The Chairman, Lamido Cooperative Farmers Association, Alhaji Gagarin Madaki, welcomed members to the special meeting acknowledging the presence of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) representative, Anchor Borrowers’ Programme Monitoring and Evaluation Team led by Kabir Bashir and thanked him for his concerted efforts leading to the success of the planting season in review. The CBN representative emphasised the importance of timely loan repayment to sustain the intervention fund and ensure future participation.

Reports presented by the treasurer, Lamido Cooperative Farmers Association, Malam Tijjani Sagagi Shehu and confirmed by the CBN representative indicated that about 90% of the disbursed loans for the current season had been recovered. Responding on the high rate of loan recovery for the season, the chairman described it as an unprecedented milestone achievement which had never occurred in the history of any of the farmers’ association. Both the chairman and CBN representative attributed the high loan recovery rate to the swift and technical intervention of the Regional Control Manager of Heritage bank, Akeem Akintoye Amusa and his team. Amusa served as the project manager of the programme, his supervisory roles and intervention at critical points were identified to have constituted major significance on the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme.

Responding, Amusa chronicled the challenges faced in the previous seasons where loan recovery rates were hardly 50%, rising from poor harvest and difficulty of getting high returns from harvested crops. According to Mr Amusa, the success story of loan recovery became possible through the application of the Monitoring and Progress Evaluation Module developed by a four-man team of professionals including himself as a chartered economics and IT project manager; Mr Michael Onoja, an IT professional; Mrs Cynthia Onyenze, an IT professional and banker as well as Mrs Abidemi Olukole, a chartered accountant and economist. “The success of the software is due to its inputted features for monitoring progress on crop yield, facilitating a direct link between farmers and agro-allied industries who book for farm produce ahead of harvest. The software helped in reduces wastes of farm produce and eliminated the activities of middlemen in the supply and demand process”. On his part, the CBN representative said the loan tracking and recovery feature of the software module developed by Amusa and his team remains a breakthrough in the history of loan recovery with respect to the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme. He announced that on the recommendation of his office in alliance with the management of Heritage Bank, other zones of the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme have adapted the module and that talks were ongoing for Mr Amusa and his team to facilitate its incorporation.

The meeting ended with the Secretary, Lamido Cooperative Farmers Association, Alhaji Saminu Yola Umar reading out a communique reached at the meeting, reiterating the farmers’ appreciation of the application of the Monitoring and Progress Evaluation Module, the CBN as well as the Federal Government for the initiating the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme.

The farmers urged the Federal Government to provide more farm produce storage facilities for the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme.