Maize farmers meet in Daura, to pay N1.2bn ABP loan

In the last few years, Daura has undergone a lot of metamorphosis for one reason: it is the home of the nation’s current President, Muhammadu Buhari. Located close to the border with the Niger Republic, the town is also a major route for rice smuggling –in fact, a 50kg bag of foreign rice will cost […]

In the last few years, Daura has undergone a lot of metamorphosis for one reason: it is the home of the nation’s current President, Muhammadu Buhari.

Located close to the border with the Niger Republic, the town is also a major route for rice smuggling –in fact, a 50kg bag of foreign rice will cost you just N11, 500 as against N16, 500 elsewhere in the country and it seems the smugglers are having great moments in the areas

Until recently, maize production receives little or no attention in the area but that is changing now with the launch of Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) for maize farmers.

That launch has attracted many farmers, who, until now, have no interest in maize cultivation to join the league of few smallholder farmers producing crop.

The Anchor Borrowers’ Programme is an initiative of the federal government championed by the Central Bank of Nigeria and it seeks to empower smallholders’ farmers who have between 0.5 to 4 hectares with loan and inputs to produce. At the end of the harvest, the farmer is expected to payback the loan pecked at a 9% interest rate.

On Tuesday, officials of the Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN) gathered at the Daura Township Stadium in front of a maize pyramid to flag-off Aggregation of maize produced under the 2018 wet season under CBN/MAAN Anchor Borrower Programme.

MAN’s President, Alhaji Bello Abubakar Funtua, said that the northwest farmers accessed about N3 billion under the Anchor Borrowers’ loan scheme in 2018, noting that the “essence of this flog off is to show farmers and all other Nigerians that this programme is a loan that needs to be repaid, not free money. As maize farmers, We are totally committed to this programme.”

“The reason why we came to Daura today is to show that Daura people have planted maize and have repaid their loans. This is a very good example to all other maize farmers who are participating under this programme that they can repay the loan and they have proved it today,” Alhaji Funtua said.

In 2018, a total of 38,000 farmers cultivating 55,000 hectares across nineteen (19) states in the country benefited from the CBN programme.  The northwest farmers benefited N3 billion while the total money assessed by maize farmers is N9.3 billion across the country.

Alhaji funtua stressed that although part of Katsina (Daura) zone was not a maize producing area, the introduction of drought-resistant and short varieties in the area helped farmers to produce a significant quantity of maize. So far, they have released about fifteen tonnes for off-takers to meet the 30% repay schedule agreement with the Bank of Agriculture (BOA), which manages the funds on behalf of the CBN.

The MAAN president also appeals to maize processors not to rely on importation as they have every quantity of the grain they require to meet their industrial uses and asked them to forward a request for whatever quantity they need to the association as they have the capacity to produce whatever quantum country needs.

In an interview, the Managing Director of BOA, Alhaji Kabir Umar, explained the agreement with farmers: “What we are expecting as initial repayment is 1.2 billion. They got N3 billion during the first season. The agreement was that initial repayment was going to be 30% during the first season and 40% during the second season and 30% during the last season.”

He believed that with the N1.2 billion, they have made good their promise to repay the 30% of what they have taken.

But when it comes to other categories of farmers, Alhaji Umar has something to worry. “We have support farmers with one hectare to a maximum of five hectares but the repayment has not been good. So you cannot upscale the coverage by given people who have over five hectares when even those with lower ones are not repaying.”

However, the bank has another window for commercial farmers to access funds easily, however, you have to collateralize it.

If there was anything else in the minds of the farmers, it is the fact that they want the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Bank of Agriculture to further reduce the 9% interest as some farmers are even struggling to pay under the current interest rate regime.

The ABP farmers also want the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to consider them while buy grains for the strategic reserves as the government can offer better prices.

The Senior Special Assistant to Governor Aminu Masari on Agriculture, Dr Abbah Abdullah, thinks there was no better way of saying thank you to Mr. President than this because “he launched the anchor borrowers programme and now he is fully assured that the programme is working and is starting here in Daura where nobody knows Daura as a maize farming community.”

Dr Abdullah stressed that what the farmers need now was to increase yield, adding that “We need to take it to the next level because in almost all the crops in Nigeria, we have not yet crossed the 40% productivity level. We need to look at how we can increase productivity.”

He advocates for precision agriculture-getting the right seeds, getting the right information in the soil, weather information, and the right agronomy practices which are key to increasing increase productivity.

But he also wants the farmers to have an effective market system for their products because the farmers are subjected to the buyers’ markets rather than the sellers’ markets. At the moment, the buyers determine the prices of the products and whether the farmers make -a profit or not, it is not their business.

The SA to Governor Masari said MAAN and other farmers’ associations need to work together to bring out what he called the “Farm Bill” so that programme that is very innovative and drive the agro-economy should have legal backing so that whoever becomes the leader cannot jettison such project.