The Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending on Sunday said about 250,000 direct jobs and 1.25 million indirect jobs had been created under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The agency said this in a statement signed by its Head, Corporate Communications, Anne Ihugba, in reaction to claims that NIRSAL was delaying the release of funds for the programme.
NIRSAL is a risk-sharing system created by the CBN with a mandate to enhance the flow of affordable finance and investments into fixed agricultural value chains
NIRSAL stressed that it was committed to disbursement of farmers’ funds approved by the CBN within five days of receipt of applications from the apex bank.
It also assured farmers under its window of the programmes that they would have access to their funds without delays.
The statement read in part, “NIRSAL observes the highest ethical and professional standards and all funds from the CBN are disbursed directly into farmers’ accounts and farmers can access such funds once drawdown conditions have been met.
“Furthermore, NIRSAL takes its responsibility to ensure timely disbursement to farmers very seriously, as this helps to ensure timely repayment of loans, which is also a critical component of its mandate.
“As an agricultural finance risk management organisation, NIRSAL is mindful of the various risks associated with yield and repayment capacity of the farmers.”
The statement added that no off-taker under the ABP would be allowed to hold farmers to ransom as existing clauses of signed tripartite agreements with various off-takers would be fully implemented.
It noted that farmers would get value for their produce in addition to sanctions for non-performance by off-takers.