By Matthew Denis
Kwara State government will access the 1billion naira loan for the Anchor Borrowers Scheme in a fortnight, Pilot Business has learnt.
Towards this end, the state government has issued an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) to prompt the release of the loan by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Recall that the state House of Assembly last year approved the request of the state government for the 1billion naira loan for Anchored Borrowers scheme demanded by the state government.
Mr. Anu Ibiwoye, Special Adviser to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed on Agric and Rural Water Support Services, made the disclosure while fielding questions from this medium last Thursday.
He said: ” For the Anchor Borrowers scheme, we are running two programmes. One that was approved by the state House of Assembly last year for four crops; soyabeans, cassava, rice and maize and hoping to access the loan soon.
“The other one is Anchor Borrowers Scheme for livestock that’s the one that the lawmakers are yet to approve. We believe that they will approve having provided the information that they requested for.
“On the one that has been approved, the state government has issued an ISPO for the one billion naira,” he added.
Ibiwoye stated further that the state have held a town hall meeting with the apex bank which is a condition to access the loan and the major decisions have been reached on whom farmers are buying from and prices were fixed at the meeting by all the stakeholders.
He said “The application was submitted by the Union Bank last week Thursday and we hope that within the next two weeks the money should be available.
“We are mindful of the fact that the rain have started and we want our farmers who are participating to get their farms ready for the exercise,” he stressed.
The governor’s aide noted that one of the precondition is that the farmers have to undergo training to understand the nitty gritty of the programme and what is expected from them.
According to him, farmers operating under the off takers driven agriculture will plant their maize for the dry season.
He stressed that they are looking at capturing about 3000 farmers for the programme, who will be given one hectare each and in some cases two hectares.
“Our farmers also have to be cleared by the CBN and they are already doing their registration and a lot of them have been turned down, but we have sent another batch of farmers to the apex bank for clearance.
“This programme is designed such that the farmers we are funding already have their own lands therefore they are not new farmers, but we’ll try and see how we can accommodate some of our youths farmers on lands that state government have cleared,” Ibiwoye stated.
He added that the farmers shortlisted for the programme will not be given cash but inputs.
