Cassava and fish farmers who got involved in the pioneer project of the Central Bank of Nigeria-Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (CBN-ABP) in Delta State ran into huge losses because there were no off-takers after the products had been produced.
This situation is said to have landed the farmers into huge losses and thus discouraging them from continuing with the programme.
“Those cassava farmers who got involved in the project ran into hitch because there was no off-taker for the product after the cassava was matured. There was glut and the price of cassava dropped to a very drastic level that all participating farmers lost”, Anthony Umunna, director of Empowerment and coordinator Farmers Projects of the Buhari Campaign Organisation nationwide, said in Asaba, the Delta State capital.
He said the cassava and fish farmers who keyed into the programme at inception, including him, suffered losses due to market glut after producing. Recounting their ordeals, he said, “Before the glut, we were selling a bag of 50kg cassava for N3,500, but later sold a bag for N1,250 and it was at this point that the farmers got discouraged. So, I lost N2.8 million the first year and the second year I lost N3 million due to glut.
“We have a Project Management Team (PMT) made up of representatives of the farmers, insurance, participating financial institutions, CBN representatives and the anchor person. This value chain involves the off-taker and the anchor, processors and the final consumer.”
According to Umunna, there were hiccups in the profiling of the farmers, which made it difficult for input suppliers who ventured into the programme to recover their funds on time.
He explained, “The reason for the failure of the pioneer projects was because the farmers and the financial institutions had confidence in the state government. And the banks cannot give farmers money without guarantee, because it is a revolving loan from the CBN.
“Since the state government is the one that profiled the farmers, it is supposed to provide the guarantee and off take the products.”
He pointed out that the banks required the off-takers/anchors to profile the farmers and pay the guaranteed deposit of the 70 percent of whatever the amount required from the CBN.
He further explained that the project had the initial hiccups and challenges because various interests showed up and a particular bank was preventing others from coming in.
“What the CBN requires you as a farmer to do is to profile yourself in a particular farmers’ group, provide your name, phone number and Bank Verification Number (BVN) for authenticity”, he said.
He regretted that the projects could not succeed in the state because of poor coordination and lack of due process, but however disclosed that the CBN-ABP in the state had now become easier for farmers to access loan to do the right thing, because the process had provided the opportunity for farmers to form clusters, identify with a financial institution and submit their BVN for credibility.
He noted that the only way to actualise the ABP was to follow the due process as laid down by the CBN, sating modalities were being put in place to make the project free in the 2019 farming season, even as he disclosed that farmers in the state had been profiled for fish and rice farming
