By Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau Chief
The Central Financial institution of Nigeria (CBN) has launched a significant overhaul of the Agricultural Credit score Assure Scheme Fund (ACGSF), unveiling a brand new strategic route geared toward increasing credit score entry to smallholder farmers and accelerating nationwide meals safety efforts.
Talking in Abuja on the inauguration of the reconstituted ACGSF Board, CBN Governor, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, described the revamp as “a brand new daybreak” for agricultural financing. He stated the initiative displays the Federal Authorities’s renewed dedication to reposition agriculture as a driver of inclusive development, rural growth, and financial diversification.
Cardoso famous that the ACGSF-established in 1977-remains one of many nation’s most impactful growth finance instruments. But, regardless of using almost two-thirds of Nigeria’s labour power and contributing over 20 per cent to GDP, the agric sector continues to obtain lower than 5 per cent of complete financial institution credit score. This structural mismatch, he stated, has stunted the potential of tens of millions of farmers for many years.
The CBN governor harassed that the agricultural panorama has advanced far past subsistence farming, now ruled by built-in worth chains, expertise, local weather dangers and a rising agritech ecosystem. In step with these realities, he stated the Scheme should remodel right into a dynamic, data-driven establishment able to supporting trendy agriculture.
He highlighted the 2019 modification that expanded the Scheme’s share capital from N3 billion to N50 billion and broadened its operational scope. One of many notable enhancements, he added, is the inclusion of farmers’ representatives on the brand new Board-an “inclusive and strategic” transfer to make sure insurance policies are grounded in actual sector wants.
Cardoso emphasised that the central goal of the revamp is to unlock reasonably priced credit score for smallholders who account for 90 per cent of the nation’s agricultural output however stay underserved resulting from restricted collateral, poor credit score historical past and weak entry to monetary companies.
He urged the Board, chaired by Dr. Olusegun Oshin, to design merchandise tailor-made to girls, youth and different underserved teams whereas leveraging fintechs, microfinance banks and cooperatives to ship revolutionary lending fashions. He additionally referred to as for the deployment of technology-from satellite tv for pc imagery to digital dashboards-to monitor mortgage utilisation and guarantee measurable impression.
Dr. Oshin welcomed the reforms and advocated additional enlargement of the Fund to satisfy the dimensions of funding required for significant sectoral transformation.
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