CBN disburses N611.5bn to commercial farmers

The total amount disbursed to farmers under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme from inception in 2009 rose to N611.5bn as of the end of November 2019.

The Central Bank of Nigeria disclosed this in its November 2019 economic report

Part of the report read, “In November 2019, the sum of N1.07bn was disbursed to three projects under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme. Thus, the total sum released to the economy, under the scheme from inception in 2009 to date, stood at N611.50bn in respect of 596 projects.

“In November 2019, 62 projects repaid the sum of N8.15bn, of which payment by 59 projects were steady repayments, while three projects were full repayments.

“The repayments brought the cumulative repayment under CACS from inception in 2009 to N384.41bn.”

An analysis of the number of projects financed under the CACS by value chain indicated that of the 596 CACS sponsored projects, production accounted for 61.6 per cent and dominated the activities funded, while processing accounted for 27.7 per cent.

These were followed by storage, input supplies and marketing, which accounted for 4.7 per cent, 3.3 per cent and 2.7 per cent, respectively.

The CBN said the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme guaranteed a total of N388.22m to 2,125 farmers in November 2019.

The amount represented a decrease of 0.5 per cent and 5.3 per cent below the levels in the preceding month and the corresponding period of 2018, respectively.

Sub-sectoral analysis showed that food crops obtained the largest share of N182.55m (47.0 per cent) guaranteed to 1,127 beneficiaries, followed by livestock sub-sector at N84.36m (21.7 per cent) guaranteed to 351 beneficiaries; and cash crops at N36.07m (9.3 per cent) guaranteed to 177 beneficiaries.

Fisheries, mixed crops, and ‘others’ obtained N34.39m (8.9 per cent), N31.91m (8.2 per cent) and N18.95m (4.9 per cent) guaranteed to 103, 279 and 88 beneficiaries, respectively.

Analyses by states showed that 28 states, including the FCT, benefited from the scheme in November 2019, with the highest and lowest sums of N67.49m (17.4 per cent) and N1.24m (0.3 per cent) guaranteed to Ogun and Jigawa states, respectively.

“The predominant agricultural activities in November 2019 were harvesting of grains, legumes, and tubers across the country. In the livestock sub-sector, farmers intensified their activities in preparation for the expected end of year bumper sales. The end period headline inflation, on year-on-year and twelve-month moving average bases was 11.85 per cent and 11.35 per cent, respectively, in November 2019,” the bank stated.