Farmers to Tinubu: Move anchor borrowers programme from CBN to agric ministry

The APC Agric Stakeholders and the Agricultural Commodity Associations have appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to move the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) conceived and implemented by the Central Bank of Nigeria to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security for better efficiency.

Chairman of the group, Muhammad Magaji Gettado, while speaking during a press briefing in Abuja, said the aims and objectives of the programme were not achieved because it was handled by the CBN instead of the Federal

Ministry of Agriculture and the Bank of Agriculture.

“We call on Mr President to ensure that all agriculturally related programmes are handled by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. At the same time, we suggest that all recovered monies from anchor borrowers’ be channelled to the Bank of Agriculture (BoA),” he said.

The farmers also listed other key areas of intervention by the federal government in order to strengthen the sector. These areas include massive support for the forthcoming dry season production across the country and the restructuring of the Bank of Agriculture.

They also called on President Tinubu to establish a separate ministry for the livestock subsector as is obtained in other countries.

Alhaji Gettado on behalf of the groups emphasized the need to restructure the country’s ‘Strategic Grains Reserve’ to make the system more effective.

“We wish to call on the Minister (of Agriculture and Food Security) to reintroduce the license buying agent with a view to buying excess grains from farmers at the time of harvest. The importance of having enough grains in our various silos cannot be overemphasised,” he said.