Uche Usim, Abuja
Three hundred and eighty seven maize farmers belonging to the Kelechik Out-growers Scheme in Lokpa Nta and Umunneochi Local Government Areas of Abia State have enjoyed the support of the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) in various areas like harvesting, handling, storage, processing, transportation and off-take.
The support, embedded in the Anchor Borrowers Programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which NIRSAL is a Participating Financial Institution (PFI), led to the harvest and transportation of 1,354 tonnes of maize valued at N162,480,000.
The management, in a statement said an initial 21 hectares of land belonging to 21 smallholder farmers was cultivated, while arrangements have been concluded for the outstanding 366 farmers to participate in the 2019 wet season farming.
“With the end-to-end use of mechanisation starting from the pre-planting phase, the maize crops were harvested, dehusked, threshed, weighed and transported to a produce drop point for storage and eventual delivery.
“Under the NIRSAL model, smallholder farmers are closely supported throughout the production phase up till the point of off-take. As part of efforts to ensure optimum yield, farmers are trained on Best Agronomic Practices and Farm Management to prepare them for the transition from smallholder farming to Agribusiness.
Farmers under the scheme expressed their delight and appreciation to NIRSAL for building their capacity, empowering them and improving their yields, incomes and livelihoods through the project.
In addition to the Abia State Agricultural Development Programme (ADP), the exercise was supervised by Field Officers of NIRSAL’s Project Monitoring, Reporting and Remediation Office (PMRO)- an innovative field structure deployed by NIRSAL to de-risk Agricultural projects.
The PMRO comprises Agricultural experts knowledgeable in modern Agricultural business practices in each state of the Federation including the Federal Capital Territory.
The mandate of the PMRO structure is to closely monitor NIRSAL-supported projects, provide technical assistance to producers, smallholder farmers, and other stakeholders in the Agricultural Value Chains. The PMRO also serves as a Business Development Unit tasked with identifying viable Agricultural projects that can attract finance.