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By Akpan David, Calabar
Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL Plc) has so far guarantees more than N233m to bolster agriculture and agribusinesses in Cross River State.
This was confirmed in Akpabuyo LGA near Calabar over the weekend when the firm in collaboration with banks released N233m working capital to Messrs Gbagolo Integrated Farms Limited who are livestock producer and TOAJ Nigeria Limited, a cocoa dealer, to expand their agribusinesses in the state.
Alhaji Aliyu Abdulhameed, NIRSAL Plc’s Managing Director/CEO, said ion Calabar that both projects are testaments to the fact that NIRSAL Plc is poised to deliver its vision of “transforming the economy, delivering inclusive growth and positively impacting the lives of Nigerians.”
He said NIRSAL had issued a 50% Credit Risk Guarantee (CRG) and 20% Interest Drawback (IDB).
It was learnt that NIRSAL Plc had further facilitated the approval and disbursement of N81.8 million and N150 million from Union Bank Plc and Sterling Bank Plc respectively to boost the agribusinesses.
Journalists were told that Gbagolo Integrated Farms Limited will use its N81.8 million Term Loan to finance the purchase of 25,000 Point of lay birds, 25,000 capacity battery cages and feeding compliments, TOAJ Nigeria Limited will channel its N150 million Export/Trade Finance facility towards the sourcing and purchase of cocoa for export.
Abdulhameed said, “The injection of these finances into the poultry and cocoa value chains in Cross River State will create a positive knock-on effect for players along each segment of both value chains and the agribusinesses’ host communities at large.”
According to him, the purchase of 25,000 Point of Lay birds by Gbagolo Integrated Farms Limited will impact poultry feeds sellers & other inputs suppliers in the pre-upstream Value Chain segment; producers/sellers of Point of Lay birds in the upstream segment, and consumers of Eggs and Spent Layers in the downstream segment.
It was disclosed that “TOAJ’s facility will support the thousands of farmers who supply its inventory by providing them with a secure, sustainable, and guaranteed offtake market.”
NIRSAL expressed firm belief that the injection of the funds will enable export of cocoa to increase Nigeria’s stake in the global cocoa market and boost the country’s foreign exchange earnings.
He urged all agricultural value chain stakeholders in the South-South region and the entire country to leverage NIRSAL’s initiative as the collateral required for getting commercial bank financing for their agribusinesses, no matter their size or location.
Union Bank Plc’s Area Business Executive, Peter Akpaudo said, “Beyond the credit risk guarantee provided to Gbagolo Farms, NIRSAL PLC is also offering technical assistance and round-the-clock project monitoring, a package that really makes lending to agriculture and agribusiness easy.”
Speaking for financiers of TOAJ Nigeria Limited, Mr. Uchenna Agbowo said that, at 10%, Sterling Bank has the highest loan book for agriculture amongst commercial banks in Nigeria. He stated that the bank has been enjoying NIRSAL’s support and will continue to count on NIRSAL for the safety of their agribusiness investments.
CEO of Gbagolo said it would have been difficult to service the loan they got from Union Bank if not for NIRSAL’s Interest Drawback (IDB) scheme.
