World Bank's $500 Million Agricultural Loan to Reach Genuine Farmers, Says Official

Emmanuel Atama, the Executive Secretary and CEO of the National Cooperative Financing Agency of Nigeria (CFAN), has given assurances that the $500 million loan facility from the World Bank, intended for one million farmers, will indeed reach its intended beneficiaries and not be diverted by political actors.

During an interview with Trust TV, Atama highlighted that past agricultural support programs had fallen short of their goals due to inadequate information dissemination and undue political influence. He stated that this current initiative will be different, particularly with a dedicated minister focused on cooperatives working to eliminate existing obstacles.

Atama noted that CFAN had not been involved in the input process for previous programs. "We were not called upon to provide input into the programme before now," he remarked. He added that during discussions with the World Bank, concerns about the pitfalls of schemes like the Anchor Borrowers' Programme were raised, and assurances were given that such issues would be avoided this time.

He further mentioned that since the program's announcement, CFAN has actively engaged in sensitizing local farmers to encourage their participation in accessing the funds through their respective cooperatives.

The loans are structured to be disbursed primarily in the form of agricultural inputs, ensuring that the funds are utilized for their intended purpose.

"Even if farmers are going to see cash, it's just between maybe 10-15 percent. Most of these loans come in the form of inputs. And where farmers used to run away with loan funds is when you have scattered farms. But now we are talking about cluster farming," Atama explained.

He elaborated on the efficiency of cluster farming for loan disbursement: "So when you want to clear, you send a notice to all the farmers that you want to clear and the clearing is done by a central coordinating system whereby as soon as they clear, the amount, the cost for clearing will be drawn from each person’s account and pay the amount…," he concluded.