NIRSAL Facilitates N2bn For Cocoa Exports

The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending on Wednesday said it would provide Agro Traders Limited, a Cocoa processing and export company in Ondo State, with 50 per cent credit risk guarantee for N2bn working capital facility.

The move will enable the company to export 22,000 metric tonnes of cocoa.

As part of the plan, the Nigerian Export-Import Bank and United Bank for Africa are financing the purchase, storage, processing and export of 22,000 metric tons of cocoa beans.

The business between the four parties would also support thousands of smallholder cocoa farmers who supply agro traders with a guaranteed offtake market for their produce every year.

While proposing similar collaborations with specific development finance institutions that have mutual objectives, NIRSAL is wooing all commercial banks to open up their balance sheets to agriculture.

The call was made with the assurance that the NIRSAL CRG would secure substantial part of bank loans to agriculture and that its comprehensive risk management framework would forestall defaults.

Speaking during a tour of Agro Traders factory in Akure, NIRSAL’s Managing Director/CEO, Mr Aliyu Abdulhameed, stated that NEXIM’s nine per cent interest rate, together with NIRSAL’s 50 per cent guarantee, would present an even more attractive financing proposition for the cocoa beans processing company.

A statement issued by NIRSAL quoted him as saying that the move would help Agro-allied companies to grow their agribusinesses with NIRSAL’s support.

He said NIRSAL adopted a value chain fixing approach in facilitating finance and investments for agribusiness.

He said through its mapping-to-market strategy launched recently, NIRSAL was crowding actors from various value chains around the primary production of commodities.