- One Million Farmers Benefit From Anchor Borrowers Programme – CBN
The Federal Government has disbursed over N190 billion to over one million smallholder farmers under the Anchor Borrowers Programme introduced by President Muhammadu Buhari on the 17th of November 2017, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said.
The governor confirmed this during his screening for reappointment as CBN Governor on Wednesday 15th of May 2019.
Emefiele said; “The results are there to see that as a result of our anchor borrowers programme where we have disbursed over N190 billion to over 1.1 million smallholder farmers, cultivating over 1.3 million hectares of land, that we need to do more of this.”
According to the CBN Governor, the Anchor Borrowers Programme has tremendously improved our economic activities through easy access to credit and employment opportunities within our rural population. He laid more emphases on easy access to funds and at a low-interest rate which is the statutory responsibilities of CBN to Nigerians.
The Governor, however, stated that Nigeria has more to achieve in other to measure up with other countries of the world. Over the past 50 years, the development level recorded in Nigeria has been disheartening.
“I went to one Asian country, I entered the country happy but I came out of the country sadly. Sad because I could see the level of development that this country has achieved over the last 50 years.
“And I cast my mind back and look at my country, Nigeria that what have we achieved? this is what gives me the push that at my age of 57, I saw this country when it was good.”
The dye is yet to cast, as the CBN Chief is confident about the future and the fulfillment of the mandate by the monetary authority.
“I am looking at the country today and I am saying I don’t want to say it is bad but I want to say that we have a lot of work to do; because the country has no doubt receded somewhat.
So from our side in the monetary policy, we will do everything possible to ensure that with the mandate that is bestowed on us, we will pull this country forward.”
The broad objective of the ABP is to create economic linkage between smallholder farmers and reputable large-scale processors with a view to increasing agricultural output and significantly improving capacity utilization of processors. It is targeted at smallholder farmers who engaged in the production of identified commodities across the country. The Farmers should be in groups/cooperative(s) of between 5 and 20 for ease of administration.
