By Dipo Olowookere
As part of efforts to deepen financial inclusion in the rural areas in the country, Unity Bank Plc has developed a special savings account for farmers.
Called the NIRSAL Farmers Savings Account, it is aimed to strongly drive the lender’s strategic business focus on rural economy.
NIRSAL is the acronym of Nigerian Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending and it was borne out of the efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to increase the disbursement of the Anchor Borrower funds to more farmers at the grassroots level.
Speaking on the new product, the Head of Agribusiness at Unity Bank Plc, Mr Olugbenga Emmanuel Adelana, noted that “a total of seven states – Kebbi, Jigawa, Zamfara, Adamawa, Kaduna, Kano and Bauchi and over 9000 small holder farmers have signed on to the scheme when the pilot of the Channel Partnership Agreement (CPA) first came on stream.”
He added that, “The success and the need to grow the number of Farmers benefiting from the scheme in other states of the federation have therefore given rise to the development of NIRSAL Farmers Savings Account”.
There is no gainsaying that the creation of several intervention schemes by the CBN will boost economic diversification and reduce over dependency on crude oil.
CBN is thus funding the Anchor Borrowers Scheme in which it has set aside a whooping N500Billion for the creation of rural employment and assurance of food security.
As a sequel, A Memorandum of Understanding and Service Level Agreement on the implementation of the Channel partnership has been approved and signed by Unity Bank and NIRSAL.
Under the partnership, NIRSAL aims to disburse up to N100 billion out of the N500 billion earmarked by CBN for the Anchor Borrower Scheme, using Unity Bank as “channel partner”.
The scheme will leverage Unity Bank’s extensive rural branch network, e-channels and technology to reach several thousands of un-banked smallholder farmers in rural Nigeria, with access to finance for staple crops and livestock production, under CBN funded Anchor Borrowers Scheme.
“Unity Bank Plc, being a niche player in Agricultural financing in Nigeria, with active participation in most government intervention schemes and support for key policy initiatives to drive growth and transformation of Nigeria’s Agricultural economy, has provided this platform to execute a key aspect of the service level agreement for the NIRSAL UNITY BANK channel partnership,” says Mr Olugbenga.
NIRSAL is expected to channel about N2 billion in loans for dry-season farming to small holder farmers across seven states already sign on to the scheme.
Modupe Gbadeyanka 
Aduragbemi Omiyale