Farmers in Cross River State who benefited from the Agricultural Credit Guaranteed Scheme Fund have been reimbursed a total of N1.065 billion in Central Bank of Nigeria guaranteed agricultural loans.
Stephen Okon, the chairman of the ACGSF board, made the announcement this Thursday in Calabar during the board's meeting and awards to the top farmers in Cross River for the year 2021.
"In terms of loan recovery, 10,635 loans worth N1.065 billion have been repaid under the plan in Cross River State since its start," he stated.
"These records say volumes about the state's level of commitment, as well as the farmers' willingness to take advantage of the scheme's opportunities to empower themselves and improve their lot." We sincerely hope that by the end of the year
According to him, the “Scheme has proved relatively successful in de-risking the agricultural sector in Nigeria as evidenced in the number of loans guaranteed from inception to date. A total of 1,224,795 loans valued at N129.084 billion were guaranteed from inception to February 2022.
“It is worthy to note that Cross River State from January to February 2022 has guaranteed a total of 73 loan beneficiaries under the scheme, valued at N24.300 million. This brought the total guaranteed loans in Cross River State from the inception of the scheme in 1978 to February 2022 to 18,406, valued at N2.305 billion.”
A female poultry farmer, Henrietta Godfrey, emerged as the Cross River State Best Farmer for 2021, while the first runner-up is Kufre Udoh Augustine, also a poultry and fish farmer, and Glory Eking, a poultry farmer, second runner up.
In her remarks, the Branch Controller of the Central Bank in Calabar, Glory Iniuanam, said “The awardees are being encouraged and every other person who is a farmer in Cross River State seeing this will want to pay back when given a loan.
“Central Bank and the Federal Government are the initiators of the scheme. We guarantee the loans. In case of any default, the Central Bank pays 75% so that they (banks) could be encouraged to give out the loan. I want to encourage everybody to take the loan.
“If you are doing business take the loan. Every farmer should be able to take it as long as you are able to pay it back. People are making a profit. Anybody can make a profit if you are sincere.
