CBN Provides N539.8m Credit to Farmers in Q1 2020

The Central Bank of Nigeria has said it paid out a total sum of N539.8 million to farmers in the first quarter of the year.

The apex bank disclosed this in its third quarter economy report titled ‘Agricultural Credit Guarntee Scheme’ and released on Monday August 3, 2020.

The report stated that “A total of N539.8m loans was granted to 3,161 farmers under the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme in the first quarter of 2020.

“This represented a decrease of 53.9 per cent and 34.8 per cent below the levels in the preceding quarter and the corresponding period of 2019 respectively.”

The sub-sectorial analysis showed that food crops received the largest share of the total amount disbursed in the quarter, with N291.6m (54.0 per cent) given to 1,958 beneficiaries. This was followed by the livestock subsector with N115.2 million (21.3 per cent) given to 430 beneficiaries.

Another N64.9 million was paid to 335 beneficiaries in the Cash crops sub-sector. 121 people in the fisheries sub-sector received N36.1 million (6.7 per cent), while the mixed crops collected N16.8m (3.1 per cent) given to 233 beneficiaries and ‘others’ N15.3m (2.9 per cent) given to 84 beneficiaries.

Analysis by the state showed the Federal Capital Territory and other 30 states benefited from the scheme, with the highest sums of N54.8m (10.2 per cent) guaranteed to Ogun state and the lowest sum of N1.8m (0.3 per cent) given to Nasarawa states.