Increase Agricultural Lending By $3bn, Reps Urge CBN

The House Representatives has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to increase agricultural lending by $3 billion to de-risk agribusiness in the country.

This followed the adoption of a motion moved by Hon. Uchenna Harris Okonkwo from Anambra at plenary on Tuesday.

Moving the motion, he said the ailing economy of Nigeria, severe impoverishment across the nation, as well as the increase in hunger due to decreased agricultural productivity triggered by low capital investment and insufficient funding of agricultural production.

Okonkwo noted that in 2011, CBN launched and incorporated the Nigeria Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) as a dynamic, holistic $500 million public-private initiative to define, measure, price, and share agribusiness credit risk.

The lawmaker argued that:”The objective of NIRSAL is to enhance agricultural value and financial value chains, by promoting good practices in agricultural financing, loan utilisation, and repayment, thus reducing the risk of agricultural lending.

“The agricultural sector, which accounts for 40% of the nations’ Gross Domestic Product

(GDP) and provides for over 60% of employment, has experienced slower growth recently and is underperforming despite enormous potential.

“To reverse the trend, there is need to tackle the challenge of under financing of agricultural

value chains by providing NIRSAL with additional 3 billion Dollars for lending to agricultural value chain actors in Nigeria.”

Adopting the motion, the lawmakers urged CBN to increase agricultural lending by banks from 1.4–7% of total lending within the next five years, ensure 50% of lending to Small holder Farmers through Microfinance Institutions, Farmer Cooperatives, and the value chain commodity association at an interest rate of 7.510.5%.

They also mandated the House Committees on Banking Regulations and Agricultural Production and Services,

Nutrition and Food Security, and Finance to monitor compliance and report within four weeks for further legislative actions.