Insecurity: Anchor Borrowers Programme to Suffer Setbacks, says AFAN

Gilbert Ekugbe

The Federal Government’s Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP), is set to suffer huge setbacks as farmers have abandoned their farmlands due to the incessant destructive activities of herdsmen in communities across the country.

The high level of insecurity ravaging the country’s agricultural architecture has forced many farmers to abandon their farms while others have lost huge profits running into billions of naira to farm disruption by bandits and cattle being reared by herdsmen.

To this end, the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has solicited the support of the central bank of Nigeria (CBN) to seek extension for payment of intervention funds under the ABP.

The National President of the AFAN, Mr. Kabiru Ibrahim, explained that association’s plea is coming on the heels of CBN’s directive that beneficiaries who obtained loans under the ABP, its flagship agricultural intervention funds for agric sector should repay back their loans for other farmers to benefit from the scheme.

He added that the challenges caused by the worsening insecurity have forced many farmers under ABP to default loans repayments to the commercial banks in the country.

Ibrahim explained that it is becoming difficult on a daily basis for Nigerian farmers to access their farmlands, warning that the situation is seriously affecting farmers’ commitments to repay the ABP loans due to drop in revenue caused by worsening security challenges.

According to him, since many farmers are scared or afraid to access their farmlands, their productivity have been limited, which he said is one of the reasons Nigeria is experiencing food inflation.

The national president urged economic managers to understand the impact of insecurity on food production and how it had whittled down the capacity of farmers to repay the loans collected under the ABP.

“Large payments of our farmers are affected by this. So, people must understand the negative impact of insecurity on our food value chain and other agricultural related activities. We are losing so much to this. This is why many farmers are calling for an extension of the repayment period, but we are encouraging them to pay back,” he said.

In his own comment, the National President of the Maize Growers’ Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Edwin, called on the government to extend the loan repayment period for Nigerian farmers, urging the government to devise other measures of supporting farmers.

“It must not come as loan. We are talking about development finance, providing support to rural dwellers. There must be a way of giving these farmers inputs as a form of support to enable them to move from where they are to the next level without asking them to pay back. There must be some sort of soft landing for farmers,” he added.