The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has guaranteed at least 1,190,970 loans valued at N122.6 billion to farmers in its 43 years of operation.
These loans were disbursed under the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF) of the apex bank, the ACGSF’s board Chairman, Mr Stephen Okon, said on Thursday.
Okon also said the scheme, which was established in 1977, had guaranteed 30,267 loans valued at N4.32bn in 2020 alone.
Speaking during the presentation of the 2020 ACGSF best national farmers awards in Abuja, Okon said fund’s share capital has also increased from N3bn to N50bn to enable it guarantee more loans.
The federal government and CBN both contribute to the fund by 60:40 ratio, while CBN serves as the secretariat and managing agent of the scheme.
The fund encourages Deposit Money Banks (DMB) to lend to those engaged in agriculture by providing guarantees.
It mitigates risks associated with banks’ lending to agriculture by guaranteeing to pay banks 75 per cent of the net amount in default in accordance with the provisions of the enabling act.
“It is important to state that the loan under the scheme includes advances, overdrafts and any credit facility,” said Okon.
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The board chairman also said this year’s awards marked the culmination of the ACGSF board’s effort to re-introduce the best farmers’ awards.
The CEO, Nemat Agro Services Limited, Mr Ene Martin Ibeabuchi, won ACGSF’ best farmer of the year for adhering strictly to the tenets and guidelines of the ACGSF scheme and his commitment to promptly repay the facility.
He got a N3.4m loan from Access Bank and got a N1m reward, among other incentives.
