The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), under the Anchor Borrower’s Programme (ABP), has disbursed N75.9 billion loan to farmers between November and December 2021.
The fund was used to support the cultivation of more than 383,000 hectares of maize, rice, and wheat during the dry season of the previous year, bringing the total amount of money distributed under the program to over 4.5 million smallholder farmers growing 21 different products to N927.94 billion.
According to a CBN report, excess production from the supported farmers will be released to the Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX) in order to lower market food costs.
As part of the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme, the bank also released N1.76 billion to fund two substantial agricultural projects (CACS).
The apex bank also gave N151.23 billion to 15 new projects in the fields of agriculture, industry, mining, and services through the Real Sector Facility.
The funds were utilised for greenfield and brownfield (expansion) projects under the COVID-19 Intervention for the Manufacturing Sector (CIMS) and the Real Sector Support Facility from Differentiated Cash Reserve Requirement (RSSF-DCRR).
The report states that a total of N1.40 trillion has been distributed to 331 projects nationwide through the Real Sector Facility.
The bank also provided N498.00 million to two healthcare projects under the Healthcare Sector Intervention Facility (HSIF), bringing the total amount disbursed to N108.85 billion for 118 projects, including 31 healthcare projects for pharmaceuticals, 82 hospital projects, and four other projects for other services.
The bank under the Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) during the period distributed N20.29 billion to 40,521 beneficiaries, including 35,340 families and 5,181 small companies, to assist those affected by COVID-19.
