NIRSAL Facilitates N128bn Loans For Agribusinesses

The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending says it has about three million farmers on its database and has facilitated over N128bn for agriculture and agribusiness across the country since its inception.

The Managing Director/CEO of the agency, Aliyu Abdulhameed, made this known in Akpabuyo during the agency’s Credit Risk Guarantee-backed project launch with Gbagolo Farm Ltd and TOAJ Nigeria Ltd.

NIRSAL guaranteed a total commercial bank loan of N81.8m from Union Bank to Gbagolo Farm Limited involved in poultry production, with NIRSAL credit guarantee cover of 50 per cent, while the agency also guaranteed a total commercial bank loan of N150m from Sterling Bank to TOAJ Nigeria Limited involved in cocoa sourcing, aggregating and sales with NIRSAL credit guarantee cover of 50 per cent.

While Gbagolo Integrated Farms Limited will use its N81.8m Term Loan to finance the purchase of 25,000 point of lay birds, 25,000 capacity battery cages and feeding complements, TOAJ Nigeria Limited will channel its N150m Export/Trade Finance facility towards the sourcing and purchase of cocoa for export, Abdulhameed said.

He added that both projects were testaments to the fact that NIRSAL Plc in its bid to realise its vision of transforming the economy supported all sizes of businesses, whether small, medium or large across the length and breadth of the country.

He added that, as a guarantor, NIRSAL Plc’s intervention positively impacted both the lender and the borrower, as well as the overall economy.