By AgroNigeria
The Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) in Kebbi has attributed farmers’ lack of repayment of loans obtained from the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), to the impression borne by some beneficiaries that the money was handed to them for free.
The Federal Government recently filed cases against nearly 70,000 Kebbi state farmers for failure to repay the N17 billion loans they received under the ABP, in November 2015.
Muhammed Sahabi Augie, Chairman of RIFAN in Kebbi, who revealed this to newsmen, said that only 200 farmers were able to settle their loans, out of the 70,000 farmers that received the loans in 2015.
“Most of the farmers had got a wrong impression that the loan is free money and of the 70,000 that had benefited from the loan in 2015, not up to 200 farmers repaid their loan so we had to resort to taking the farmers to court to recover the money.
“As at now in every magistrate around the state, we have given the list of the farmers to recover the loan.” The Chairman indicated.
In contrast to the claims of the ingenuity of the farmers, Augie noted that those standing trials in court were genuine farmers, whose backgrounds were verified by an independent body.
He also debunked the allegations that the ABP loans were been hijacked by politicians in the state, adding that such statement could ruin the state’s integrity and chances to benefit from the programme.
The Chairman further lauded the ABP’s contributions to the development of rice in the state, regardless of the shortcomings in the repayment of loans.
“It is a big lie for any person, group of persons to say the Anchor Borrower programme did not impact positively in the state because before the launch of the programme in 2015, the state’s total rice production capacity was 70,000 metric tonnes per annum but by 2016 it had increased to 1.2 million metrics tonnes per annum.” He stressed.