President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that about N300 billion has been disbursed to farmers, while 1.6 million poor and vulnerable households are currently benefiting from the Conditional Cash Transfer programme.
President Buhari revealed this while virtually declaring open the 14th Annual Banking and Finance Conference of Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, on Tuesday, in Abuja.
According to him, some of the various initiatives embarked upon to boost agricultural trade in Nigeria include the Anchor Borrowers Programme.
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He stated that the Central Bank of Nigeria had made more than N300 billion available to over 3.1 million smallholder farmers of 21 different commodities.
He said the commodities included Rice, Wheat, Maize, Cotton, Cassava, Poultry, Soybeans, Groundnut, Fish, cultivating over 3.8 million hectares of farmland.
“It is on record that 80% of rice consumed in Nigeria is now produced locally,’’ he said.
He added that the National Social Register of poor and vulnerable Nigerians had 32.6 million persons from seven million poor and vulnerable households identified, imploring bankers to play a stronger role in improving livelihoods.
