Minister tasks FCT area councils on agriculture

The Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, has stated that the six area councils in the FCT have been directed to identify and key into the value chain commodities to be promoted in their respective areas of jurisdiction.

The minister, who was represented by the Director of Treasury in the FCT Adminstration, Alhaji Ibrahim Bomai, made this  known while welcoming officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) delegation to her office.

She added that the Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing in Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), was cardinal to the success of the Federal Government’s agricultural transformational agenda as it was established to address the grey areas inhibiting agricultural growth in Nigeria.

She added that the FCTA had commenced the implementation of the Growth Enhancement Scheme of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development in order to empower farmers in the territory.

“NIRSAL under the ATA seek to address all the technical, administrative and financial needs of the farmers along the selected agricultural value chain commodities in which the country has comparative advantage,” she said.

Earlier, the head of the Nigerian Incentive Based Risk Sharing in Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) project implementation office under the Development Finance Department of the CBN, Mr Jide Uzonwanne, said that the CBN will  guarantee 75 per cent loans provided by deposit money banks to farmers in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory as part of concerted efforts to transform the agricultural sector.   

He made this known on Wednesday in Abuja at a presentation on the role of NIRSAL to the Minister of State in her office.

The loan guarantee according to him was being packaged under the Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing in Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), a public private esbalished by the CBN, the Bankers’ Committee and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Uzonwanne stated that the guarantee would be issued by the NIRSAL to the farmers in the states and FCT through commercial banks and other financial institutions.

“NIRSAL mobilises financing for Nigerian agribusiness by using credit guarantees to address the risk of default. NIRSAL is a flexible financing tool designed to change the behaviour of financial institutions.

“It covers all crops and livestock activities in Nigeria, while driving improved investment outcomes and job creation. It is also building on a legacy of previous CBN interventions in agriculture that has helped create thousands of jobs, he added.”

He stated that the CBN programme was designed to create access to finance by integrating end-to-end agriculture value chains such as input producers, farmers, agro dealers, agro processors and industrial manufacturers with agricultural financing value chains - loan product development, credit distribution, loan origination, managing and pricing for risk, and loan disbursement.

“The integration is driven by NIRSAL’s 5 pillars, particularly the Risk Sharing Pillar and the Technical  Assistance pillars such as Risk sharing Facility (N45 billion), Insurance Facility (N4.5 billion), Technical assistance facility (N9 billion), Agricultural bank rating scheme (N1.5 billion), and Bank incentive mechanism (N15 billion).

“NIRSAL will share risks with banks ranging from 30% to 75% of loss depending on the segment. We are prepared to offer following terms to farmers in the States and FCT Abuja: 75% guarantees on all input, working capital and limited living cost loans to plant the crop, and loan duration should be about  24 - 28 months,” he noted.

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