Farmers that benefitted from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme loan have repaid the sum N500 billion as of February 2023. The amount represents 52.39 per cent as the Apex bank put the loan disbursement to beneficiaries at N1.079 trillion as of February 28, 2023.
Acting Director, Corporate Communications DepartmentattheCentralBank of Nigeria, Dr. AbdulMumin Isa, confirmed the update in Abuja, noting that the apex bank remained committed to its developmental mandate of stimulating access to finance for the real sector.
Isa disclosed that total repayments with regardto ABP as of February 2023 stood at N0.503trillion, notingthatthe balance of N0.119 trillion was not due for repayment. He put the released sum as of February 28, 2023 at N1.079 trillion, of which N0.960 trillion was due for repayment.
According to him, the CBN ABP had supported about 4.57 million smallholder farmers at end-February, 2023, who cultivated over 6.02 million hectares of 21 commodities across the country. He listed the commodities as rice, wheat, cowpea, millet, maize, cotton, fish, soya bean, poultry, cassava, groundnut, ginger, sorghum, oil palm, cocoa, sesame, tomato, castor seed, yellow pepper, onions, and cattle/dairy.
