The Nigeria Incentive- Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) is concluding Harvest and Post-harvest activities for maize in Lokpa Nta and Umunneochi Local Government Areas of Abia State under the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Anchor Borrowers’ Program (ABP).
The harvest processes include handling, storage, processing, transportation and off-take.
As contained in a statement signed by Hauwa Noroh Ali, Supervisor, Corporate Communication, NIRSAL is supporting 387 maize farmers belonging to the Kelechi Out-growers scheme adding that as part of a trial phase, NIRSAL has successfully harvested an initial 21 Hectares
of land belonging to 21 smallholder farmers while arrangements have been concluded for the outstanding 366 farmers to participate in the 2019 Wet Season farming.
The statement shows that with the end-to-end use of mechanization starting from the pre-planting phase, the maize crops were harvested, de-husked, threshed, weighed and transported to a produce drop point for storage and eventual delivery amounting to 1,354 tons of maize
valued at N162,480,000.00.
“Under the NIRSAL model, smallholder farmers are closely supported throughout the production phase up till the point of off-take. As part of efforts to ensure optimum yield, farmers are trained on Best Agronomic Practices and Farm Management to prepare them for the
transition from smallholder farming to Agribusiness”.
According to the statement, the Farmers under the scheme expressed their delight and appreciation to NIRSAL for building their capacity, empowering them and improving their yields, incomes and livelihoods through the project.
In addition to the Abia State Agricultural Development Program (ADP), the exercise was supervised by Field Officers of NIRSAL’s Project Monitoring, Reporting and Remediation Office (PMRO)- an innovative field structure deployed by NIRSAL to de-risk Agricultural projects.
As contained in the statement, the mandate of the PMRO structure is to closely monitor NIRSAL-supported projects, provide technical assistance to producers, smallholder farmers, and other stakeholders in the Agricultural Value Chains. The PMRO also serves as a Business
Development Unit tasked with identifying viable Agricultural projects that can attract finance.
“The PMRO comprises Agricultural experts knowledgeable in modern Agricultural business practices in each state of the Federation including the Federal Capital Territory”.
“The corporation stimulates the flow of affordable finance and investments into the Agriculture Sector by de-risking the Agribusiness finance value chain, fixing Agricultural value chains, building long-term capacity, and institutionalizing incentives for Agricultural lending through its five (5) strategic pillars namely: Risk Sharing, Insurance, Technical Assistance, Incentives and Rating”. Quick Reply.
Cynthia Egboboh, Abuja.
