NIGERIAN farmers have said to have been lifted by over N105 billion funding sourced from public and private sources, according to the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL). So far, over 452 Agro Geo-Cooperatives covering over 270,000 hectares of the land have benefitted from the process through the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP). According to NIRSAL, the funding has had a positive effect on Nigeria’s economy, with the scheme creating over 400,000 jobs in the agriculture value chains. “NIRSAL has also linked the 926 FCT farmers cultivating 1,140 hectares of land with guaranteed offtake markets thereby protecting them from price fluctuations and the exploitative tendencies of some middlemen. NIRSAL structured farmers in the FCT into 16 established Agro Geo-Cooperatives AGCs, 12 of which are included in the ABP for the 2020 wet season.

Source: Nigerian Tribune July 31, 2020 08:15 UTC