Apathy, distrust hamper Anchor Borrowers Programme, say farmers

Farmers in the region blame the failure largely on poor implementation of the scheme launched in 2015 to boost food production, reduce importation and conserve foreign exchange.

A senior ministry official, who spoke with The Guardian anonymously, said: “It is rather unfortunate that the apex bank has refused to carry us along in all its intervention programmes for farmers. If they had done that from the inception, it will not become difficult for them to recover some of these loans from farmers. But since they are the ones printing the money, they have a say on how they spend it.

He disclosed that in 2020, about 50,000 members of the association received about N9 billion for mechanisation services and farm inputs and stressed the need for extension workers to monitor the activities of farmers participating in the programme. He added that many farmers still perceive the CBN loan as national cake, thereby refusing to pay it back, even after making profits.FCT Minister, Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello, confirmed to The Guardian that the FCTA does not guarantee the ABP Credits to farmers in the territory, explaining that farmers source their loans and inputs through commodity associations in the territory.

The branch Controller of CBN in Jos, Mr. Yusuf Duniya, warned beneficiaries against diversion, saying anyone caught selling inputs would be delisted. Saba told The Guardian in Ilorin that many beneficiaries of the loan, running into billions of naira, saw it as political patronage rather than a lifeline with conditions attached to it.The indebtedness, according to him, has made it difficult for many farmers to obtain more loans. Saba said the operators of the loan now deal with only viable farmer associations in the state.

However, there is hope on the horizon as plans are on to attract at least N10 billion for farming activities this year in the state. Already, the state government is collaborating with the Rice Farmers Association, with plans already concluded to attract N10 billion investment to assist rice farmers in the state, under the Central Bank of Nigeria ABP scheme.

But a ministry official told The Guardian in confidence that the farmers thought the loan was a grant.“They thought it was business as usual. In the past regime, they would collect the inputs and would not pay back, as they would say it is their own share of the cake. We will use available legal means to collect the inputs back no matter the intrigues and blackmail. They have to pay for the inputs.

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