The Central Bank of Nigeria has setup N20billion for the ‘Anchor Borrowers’ Programme’ (ABP) which will be made available for local rice farmers across the country.
The programme will be officially launched on Tuesday by President Muhammadu Buhari in Kebbi state.
The CBN in a statement Saturday said it has set aside the sum of N20 billion from the N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) for farmers at a single-digit interest rate of 9.0 per cent to address the challenges of poor funding.
CBN Governor Mr Godwin Emefiele said that the developmental initiatives programme has been designed to create economic linkages between farmers and processors to not only ensure increased agricultural output of rice paddy, but also importantly close the gap between production and consumption by ramping up utilisation capacity of Nigeria’s integrated rice mills.
Emefiele said If these noble objectives can be achieved, it is not unlikely that the country will require even more integrated milling capacity to meet the huge local production of paddy rice.
