2.9 Million Farmers Benefited From The Anchor Borrowers’ Programme — CBN Governor

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria has revealed the milestone achieved by the Anchors Borrowers Programme in the last five years.

The Anchors Borrowers Programme is a Federal Government Initiative brought to life under Buhari's administration with the objective of bridging the gap between small scale farmers and the financial sector in the country.

While making a remark at the fifth anniversary of the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), Tuesday, Emefiele, highlighted the opportunity the Agriculture sector holds for the country as well as the success achieved via the programme.

According to Emefiele, 2,923,937 farmers have benefitted from the programme; 3,647,643 hectares have been cultivated by farmers under the Programme; 21 commodity sectors benefited from the program and in the 2020 wet season Banks under the CBN-RIFAN partnership financed 221,450 farmers for the cultivation of 221,450 hectares in 32 States.

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The fifth anniversary of ABP was the flag-off of the 2020 wet season harvest aggregation and 2020 dry season input distribution under the CBN-Rice Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) hosted at Zauro, Kebbi State.

Emefiele noted that agriculture being a neglected sector in the Nigerian economy is now a thing of the past while stressing the need for Nigeria to start building up its agricultural reserves so as to be in a strong position when the rainy days arrive.

“The rhetoric around neglect of previous years will remain part of our history and the best time to correct those mistakes is now and every stakeholder must contribute their quota to guarantee the realization of these national targets," Emefiele said

“Covid-19 and the associated lockdowns globally have shown that nations only export out of their reserves. Let us start building our own reserves now.”