Uche Usim, Abuja
IT was good news for Imo State government as 525 of its smallholder farmers are benefiting from agricultural input supply under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The project is being executed by the Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL Plc.) in partnership with the aggregator, Aloha Integrated Services, for the 2019 wet season farming.
The beneficiary farmers are from Mbaitoli, Ideato North and South, Nwangele, Oguta, Ohaji Egbema, Oru West, Isu and Okigwe Local Government Areas in Imo State.
Speaking at the flag-off ceremony of the CBN ABP inputs distribution for the 2019 wet season, which took place in Owerri Municipal Council of Imo State at the weekend, the Head of NIRSAL’s Project Monitoring, Reporting and Remediation Office (PMRO) in Imo State, Mrs. Nkechi Osuji, said ABP’s overall objective is to create economic linkages between smallholder farmers and reputable companies involved in the processing of specific agro-commodities with a view to increasing agricultural output and achieving food security.
According to her, NIRSAL’s focus is to address the various bottlenecks in the cassava value chain in the South-East of the country.
Osuji noted that the ABP will address the problem of low-quality inputs, pests and diseases, poor agronomic practices and other challenges facing smallholder farmers.
She explained that the reason NIRSAL is providing farmers with improved cassava stems, fertilizers and crop protection chemicals is to help them boost their production and achieve high yield at the end of the farming season.
The cassava farmers under the Aloha ABP ticket, who have in the past suffered weed, disease and pest infestations on their farms, can now rest assured that a solution to their challenges has come.