Farmers Reject Anchor Borrowers’ Scheme as CBN Ends Intervention Efforts
The Anchor Borrowers’ Programmer (ABP), introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2015 to boost smallholder farmers’ access to credit and inputs, has come under heavy criticism from the All-Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN). AFAN President Kabir Kebram dismissed the scheme as a failed initiative, claiming the association distanced itself from the outset after identifying structural and sustainability issues. He emphasized that AFAN foresaw the programmer’s eventual collapse and chose not to participate due to concerns over its viability.
While the CBN reported increases in rice production and a reduction in importation, Kebram insisted the perceived gains were superficial and did not reflect the experiences of grassroots farmers. According to official data, over four million farmers reportedly benefited, and rice mills in Nigeria increased to 50. However, AFAN contended that a large number of farmers were left out, and the scheme lacked transparency and accountability. Structural flaws and oversight lapses, Kebram said, eroded the programme’s impact.
Kebram further linked the ABP’s failure to the legal woes of former CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele, who he claimed mismanaged funds allocated to the programme. Issues such as fund diversion, political interference, and poor recovery rates plagued the scheme. Of the N1 trillion disbursed, only about 40 percent was reportedly recovered, leaving a 60 percent default rate. This repayment gap underscored the programme’s failure to deliver on its promises of sustainable, accountable financing for agriculture.
Initially aimed at transforming agriculture by connecting smallholder farmers to markets through credit and input access, the ABP has now been discontinued under current CBN Governor Yemi Cardoso. The programme, once praised for shifting monetary policy toward real-sector growth, ultimately collapsed under the weight of its own inefficiencies. With its closure, the CBN has exited all development finance interventions, leaving stakeholders questioning the future of agricultural financing in Nigeria.
Source: Punch