CBN Says Anchor Borrowers' Programme Recorded 52 Per Cent Loan Repayment

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that the total repayment of loans under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) stood at N503 billion, representing 52.39 per cent.

Dr AbdulMumin Isa, the Acting Director of the Corporate Communications Department, made this known in a statement on Monday.

The ABP is a program from the CBN which provides loans (in kind and cash) to smallholder farmers to boost agricultural production.

According to Isa, CBN has released N1.079 trillion under the programme, out of which N960 billion is due for repayment.

He said that the ABP had supported about 4.57 million smallholder farmers who cultivated over 6.02 million hectares of 21 commodities across the country.

He listed the commodities as rice, wheat, cowpea, millet, maize, cotton, fish, soya bean, poultry, cassava, groundnut, ginger, sorghum, oil palm, cocoa, sesame, tomato, castor seed, yellow pepper, onions, and cattle/dairy.

Isa said that the ABP had contributed significantly to the increased national output of focal commodities, with maize and rice peaking at 12.2 and 9.0 million metric tonnes in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

He said the programme had also helped to improve the national average yield per hectare of the commodities, with productivity per hectare almost doubling within the eight years of the programme’s implementation.

According to the acting director, repayments under the ABP have been made through cash or produce by the beneficiaries.

He said that the outstanding due balance on loans is still under moratorium due to the COVID-19 forbearance granted to beneficiaries of the apex bank’s interventions in March 2020 and extended to February 28, 2022.

“It is pertinent to note that the tenor of loans under the ABP is based on the commodity gestation period.

“For instance, loans granted to farmers cultivating some perennial crops could have up to seven-year tenor,” he said.

“The CBN remains committed to its developmental mandate of stimulating access to finance for the real sector, particularly agriculture, as it continues to support the Federal Government’s drive for food security and economic growth.

“Accordingly, the CBN continues to welcome applications from eligible Nigerian farmers and firms under the ABP, ” he added.