Agric value chains: NIRSAL facilitates N102bn loans, creates 400, 000 jobs

The Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) has facilitated over N102 billion as loans from commercial banks since its inception, across the various agricultural value chains in Nigeria.

The organisation also said it created 400,000 jobs  and positively impacted two million lives in the pre-upstream, upstream, midstream and downstream segments of the agricultural value chain, specifically in the areas of Mechanisaton, input supply, primary production and processing.

NIRSAL Plc, is a wholly-owned corporation of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), with a US$500million non-bank financial institution specifically designed to redefine, measure, re-price and share agribusiness-related credit risk.

NIRSAL Managing Director/CEO Aliyu Abdulhameed said this Wednesday at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja.

By its mandate, he said, “NIRSAL is not a lending institution but was created to stimulate the flow of affordable finance and investments into fixed agricultural value chains.

“This, it does through fixing of agricultural value chains, building long-term capacity, and institutionalising incentives for agricultural lending leveraging its five (5) strategic pillars namely: risk sharing, Innovative Insurance technical assistance, Incentive mechanism and rating.

“Thus, NIRSAL serves as a catalyst that enables providers of finance and investment, lend and invest in agribusinesses leveraging on its credit risk guarantees and risk management products, tools, techniques, methodologies and strategic partnerships.”

The NIRSAL boss further said the outfit had, “in line with its strategic and innovative approach to delivering its mandate,” achieved some deliverables.

He listed them to include; “development of area yield index insurance for the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers’ programme, development of Hybrid Index Product with Royal Exchange Plc and submitted to NAICOM for approval; signed agreement with PETKUS Technologie GMBH on new technologies for seed and grain processing in Nigeria; and implementation plan for the NIRSAL Student Knowledge Enterprise and Practice Program (NSKEP) which is ongoing and will provide exposure for 400-500 level students in agribusiness disciplines to gain field experience and pursue entrepreneurship in agribusiness.”

Other miletones, he said, were the “operationalization of the financing framework for the acquisition & rehabilitation of tractors and other machines for redeployment into the field for productive use” as well as “N717million  given as CRG cover to Mass International & Equipment Nig. Ltd and Machine & Equipment Consortium for Africa (MECA) for the purchase of tractors; and NIRSAL Action Research-based Windmill for Irrigation was set up and the pilot project is at completion phase.”
Culled from the blueprint.ng.