The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has urged the leadership of the National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN), to prevail on the 30, 000 cotton farmers in Kano state who benefited from the Anchor Borrower programme to ensure prompt payment of the loan facility.
The CBN branch controller, Alhaji Ali Abdulkadir made the call at the official flag off of recovery of cotton outputs organised by the National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTA), on Tuesday in Kano, reminded the cotton farmers who benefited the facility not to delay in the payment as the loan is a revolving one which other farmers were expected to benefit.
He added that the farmers should willingly come and pay, because it is essential that they pay back, so that others can also benefit, pointing out that, if they don’t pay they’re trying to terminate the programme.
“It is a revolving fund as you collect, you produce, you sell and then pay the loan so that others that have not benefited earlier can also benefit.
According to him, no fewer than 30, 000 registered cotton farmers who collected the loan were expected to repay the loan pointing out each of them got N174, 000, including inputs and cash as total loan package amounting to N5.2 billion.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has urged the leadership of the National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN), to prevail on the 30, 000 cotton farmers in Kano state who benefited from the Anchor Borrower programme to ensure prompt payment of the loan facility.
The CBN branch controller, Alhaji Ali Abdulkadir made the call at the official flag off of recovery of cotton outputs organised by the National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTA), on Tuesday in Kano, reminded the cotton farmers who benefited the facility not to delay in the payment as the loan is a revolving one which other farmers were expected to benefit.
He added that the farmers should willingly come and pay, because it is essential that they pay back, so that others can also benefit, pointing out that, if they don’t pay they’re trying to terminate the programme.
“It is a revolving fund as you collect, you produce, you sell and then pay the loan so that others that have not benefited earlier can also benefit.
According to him, no fewer than 30, 000 registered cotton farmers who collected the loan were expected to repay the loan pointing out each of them got N174, 000, including inputs and cash as total loan package amounting to N5.2 billion.
Abdulkadir explained that the system of recovery of the loan to CBN is for each farmer to bring 25 bags of 40Kg, which is an equivalent of what they received as loan, adding that, “cotton is only produced during the rainy and as such, they have all harvested, prompting the recovery process.
“I am advising the leadership of the association to embark on an aggressive recovery because the loan was given to farmers through the association because the association can identify them,” he said.
He explained that the CBN had also extended similar loan to rice, wheat as well as cassava and other commodities to enhance food production in line with the President Muhammadu Buhari’s policy on food security.
Earlier in his remarks, the Deputy Governor, Dr Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna represented by a Director, Admin and General services in the ministry of Agriculture, Hajiya Zahra Sulaiman enjoined the farmers to pay their loans so that others could benefit from the programme.
Also speaking, the state chairman of NACOTAN, Alhaji Lawan Aliyu Sarkin Noma commended the Federal Government for including the cotton farmers in the Anchor Borrower programme as it will go along way in enhancing the socio-economic status of farmers in addition to stopping importation of cotton.