CBN, Association Launch eNaira Programme For Farmers

The Association of Northern Agricultural and Allied Commodities Practitioners (ANAACOP) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have inaugurated the farmers' programmable money e-Naira engagement.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the programme is targeting one million farmers in northeastern states in the 2023 farming season.

Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor, said in Yola that the programme is designed to ensure food security in the region and the country at large.

Represented by Rakiya Muhammad, the Director of Information Technology and Coordinator naira programme of CBN, Emefiele said the e-Naira is the first digital currency to be launched in Africa and second in the world.

Emefiele congratulated the association and the beneficiaries for having the programme, adding that it will help farmers to access affordable inputs for tremendous progress and transformation as the result of technology and innovation.

He said that currently 50 farmers are targeted to test run the programme in Adamawa.

“But by the end of the year, we will scale up to one million farmers and another four million by 2024.

“So what we are doing is providing a platform where we can have accountability, transparency and make the programme efficient to encourage people who will be able to provide finance to those who need it,” said the CBN governor.

Sadiq Daware, the Chairman of ANAACOP, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the Anchor Borrowers Programme through the CBN.

He said that the programme would help a lot of farmers in the country and today the naira programme would reduce intermediaries and provide easy access to credit and financial services for farmers in rural communities of Northern Nigeria.

“Today, we are happy to inform all Nigerians that ANAACOP through the CBN has gotten it right to make sure that farmers, particularly the small holders farmers, will get loans at ease with little or no hitches leveraging on e-Naira programme,” he said.

Daware assured farmers that they would not regret it at the end of the day.

Malam Mijinyawa Mahmudu, the Chairman of the Ribadu Farmers Group who spoke on behalf of the beneficiaries, appreciated the Federal Government interventions in the agriculture sector through CBN.

He also commended the association for coming up with the programme that has direct impact on small-scale farmers