In its bid to promote the consistent flow of funds to the Nigeria Agribusiness industry, the Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending, (NIRSAL PLC) has facilitated over N148 billion worth of finance and investments in the agricultural sector.
Speaking at a media briefing in Abuja, Managing Director of the company, Mr. Aliyu Abdulhameed, said that NIRSAL (wholly-owned corporation of the Central Bank of Nigeria) facilitated over N30 billion into the sector between January last year to date.
He said that in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic that disrupted the global economy last year, his organization had to continue working, saying, “the stomach does not know whether there is pandemic or not.”
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“Even though our operations suffered a stall during the lockdown of 2020, our technological depth gave us a pathway to return to work while remaining safe and socially distanced. As you know, it was important to continue, even increase, food and raw materials production as the pandemic bit harder According to the MD, “By remaining operational, our numbers grew: As at fourth-quarter 2020 (Q4 2020), we had achieved the following: Facilitated over N148 billion in finance and investments for agriculture and agribusiness; aggregated over 3,000 Agro geo-cooperatives with 500,000 farmers on nearly 800,000 hectares of land; and enrolled 1.4 million persons onto innovative insurance products designed by NIRSAL in collaboration with a consortium of agricultural insurance underwriters.”
