Stakeholders in the agricultural sector have described the renewed resolve by the Federal Government to recover the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) loan disbursed to farmers as a daunting task, which might face some sort of resistance.

Their position was hinged on the past failed efforts of the last administration, which only succeeded in recovering a small fraction of the disbursed fund. At a time, some clerics were engaged in the Northern part of the country, but the effort yielded little or no result.

The reaction of the sector players was prompted by the marching order issued by President Bola Tinubu, early this month, to security agencies to immediately recover over N577b disbursed to farmers as loans under the scheme before September 18, 2023.

Initiated on November 17, 2015, the ABP, anchored by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was aimed at creating a linkage between anchor companies involved in processing and smallholder farmers of key agricultural commodities.

The thrust of the ABP is the provision of farm inputs in kind and cash (for farm labour) to smallholder farmers to boost production, stabilise inputs supply to agro-processors and address the country’s negative balance of payments on food.

It is loan to farmers without collateral and the benefitting famers are given farm inputs and cash to cultivate their farms, including the experiment on rice, which government claims has achieved huge success.

But regardless of whatever success the Federal Government scored itself, the scheme has been plagued by allegations of favoritism and unpaid loan.

Last January, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which carpeted the implementation of the agricultural credit in its report titled: “Selected Issues paper on Nigeria,” disclosed that about N1.4tr or 76 per cent of the N1.9tr loans collected by farmers under the ABP initiative remain unpaid as at January 2023.

IMF identified poorly targeted loan recipients, use of funding purposes unrelated to agriculture, weak incentive regarding repayment structure, among other factors for its perceived failure.

However, the CBN in a statement signed by its acting Director of Corporate Communications Department, AbdulMumin Isa countered the assertion, noting that the total loan repayments under the scheme stood at 52 per cent in February.

Since then, nothing was heard on the loan till the expiration of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure on May 29.

But President Tinubu’s recent declaration, especially with the planned use of security agencies has reopened the debate on the possibility of recovering the loan.

The President/Executive Secretary, Agricultural Fresh Produce Growers and Exporters Association of Nigeria (AFGEAN), Aiyeola Adetiloye, who described the non-payment of the loan as a significant financial burden on the government, expressed fear that there maybe some resistance to recovering the loans.

He said: “The CBN has disbursed over N1tr in loans under the ABP programme, and a large portion of this has not been repaid. This is a significant financial burden on the government, and it is important that it be recovered as much as possible.

“The loan was originally designed to help smallholder farmers, but it has been criticised for being too generous to wealthy individuals and industry players and there may be some resistance to recovering the loans, particularly from those who have benefited from the programme.”

Adetiloye said the best option for the Federal Government, is to recover the loan by all means, because it will send a strong message that the government is serious about tackling corruption and financial mismanagement.

“I think it will be a daunting task, but it is a vital step for the Nigerian government to take. Reclaiming it will demonstrate to Nigerians that the government is committed to fiscal responsibility and transparency. It will also send a positive signal to foreign investors that Nigeria is a safe and stable place to invest,” he said.

The former Chairman, Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) –Agric Sector/ Managing Director of Bama Farms, Prince Wale Oyekoya, said recovering the loan requires political will and sincerity of government in eliminating corruption.

Oyekoya said: “Recovering the Anchor Borrower’s Programme loan from the defaulters is the best way to go, as it is meant to be a revolving loan to accommodate large number of farmers. The government meant well for the farmers to access the loan, but the implementation from the beginning is questionable as most of the loan went to wrong beneficiaries such as political farmers, bank executives, etc.

“Most of the loans have gone bad because the political farmers accessed the loan to finance their political ambitions, even some state governors took billions of naira from the loan and have not paid back.

“Our politicians are our problem in this country as they have caused us financial difficulties. The best way to recover the loan from the defaulter is to go after the assets they used as collateral and ban them from taking any loan from our financial institutions.”

On his part, the Chief Executive Officer, Green Saharan Farms, Jos, Plateau State, Suleiman Dikwa, said if the loan is not recovered, future interventions might not achieve the desired objectives.

“We are quick to offer direct interventions to the farmers or small businesses by the assumption that everyone is an entrepreneur and can therefore manage all factors of production, whereas they are just producers/farmers.

“The second point is the form of the intervention and the process itself, which has no fitting with the social and economic context of the farmers and the risk of default.”

Dikwa noted that enterprises should have been chosen as direct beneficiaries to form structures to be managed for the producers to benefit. To achieve the best in future interventions, he said government should, “develop over the counter solutions within communities for ease of access by farmers and recovery by the intervention. This strategy makes use of funding for purposes unrelated to agriculture to be derisking by the community social structure rather than unenforceable contracts.

“Today, the financial institutions have to deal with millions of farmers and political debtors who secured the funds on the merit of their affiliation to the government. The level of national corruption has made most beneficiaries look at the loans as a share of the national cake because they are regaled with news daily of individuals’ stealing billions of Naira. The challenge in targeting the direct intervention rather than market driven intervention,” he said.