BY COBHAM NSA, ABUJA – In steps with its strategy of boosting egg and meat production nationwide, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has invested about N12.552 billion to empower large, medium and small-scale poultry farmers.
Besides building the farmers’ capacity, the huge investment initiative particularly aims at creating more jobs for Nigerians in the sub-sector.
Available figures from the apex Bank indicate that the last quarter of 2019 to November 2020 has seen farmers in the poultry value chain accessing a total sum of N12,552,000,000 from various commercial banks and the NIRSAL Microfinance Bank.
The CBN’s statistics further listed large-scale companies that benefited from its intervention programmes as: Fortune Heights and Animal Care, both in Ogun State; Dasco Engineering in Lagos; Olam Hatcheries in Kaduna; Eastern Plains in Anambra State; and Emmpek Farms in Delta State.
Other beneficiaries under the Agri-Business/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) window are: Elabi Farms in Bayelsa; and Aladeyelu Farms in Ondo.
By its calculations, the apex bank said 639 poultry farmers that applied through the regular AGSMEIS window had also received funds totalling about N1.996 billion as Autonomous Poultry farmers through NIRSAL MFB.
Additionally, about N1.591 billion has so far been disbursed to 898 poultry farmers across the country as part of measures aimed at ameliorating COVID-19 impact on their operations.
Director of Development Finance Department, Mr Phillip Yila Yusuf, who confirmed CBN’s current investment profile in the sector, said funds disbursement to farmers was an on-going process with more beneficiaries scheduled for shortlisting to access the loan facility.
Yusuf explained that additional fund will be disbursed to poultry farmers before year 2020 ending, saying the plan is to guarantee, among other objectives, improved affordability and accessibility of eggs; broiler meat and day-old-chicks; assured market for egg-producers through off-take; employment creation for existing and new poultry farmers; and improved protein intake for Nigerians.
Confirmed reports showed that in 2019, CBN engaged and partnered 12 universities from the country’s six geo-political zones in a pilot scheme known as ‘University-based Poultry Revival Programme’ as part of its strategy to address the demand gap and unlock the potential of Nigerian poultry producers through the involvement of the nation’s tertiary institutions in productive ventures.
For now, the cheering news is that some large-scale poultry farmers who are beneficiaries of the schemes, have applauded CBN’s timely intervention in growing the sector.
They maintained that post-COVID 19, Nigeria’s poultry sector will enjoy massive boost on its path to recording sustainable growth.
Amplifying this position, Chief Executive Officer of Premium Farms, Alhaji Mashey Rasheed and the Chief Executive of Amo Byng Nigeria Limited, Dr. Ayoola Oduntan, urged other players in the industry to openly and fully embrace the apex bank’s credible interventions to engender and further enhance job creation opportunities in Nigeria.
