By Adedapo Adesanya
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has distributed farming inputs to 156 members of the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN) in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The apex bank gave the cocoa farmers some herbicides, fungicide, insecticides and fertilisers on Thursday under its Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP).
Speaking during the event, the National President of CFAN, Mr Adeola Adegoke, said that the inputs would enable each beneficiary to increase production from the average of 350 kilogrammes to 600 kilogrammes.
He said that the country can reduce its dependence on oil and gas revenues if cocoa farmers get adequate funding and support from the government and from the private sector as it is being done in Ghana.
Mr Adegoke said that 1,221 cocoa farmers in the 10 cocoa producing states of Ondo, Cross River, Edo, Ekiti, Osun, Kwara, Ogun, Delta, Abia and Oyo would benefit from the programme.
According to him, the distribution, which is for the first batch, is strictly for genuine, active and practising cocoa farmers.
“An average beneficiary will go with three cartons of fungicides, 12 litres of herbicides, nine insecticides and six litres of fertiliser.
“This is the first time we are having such. So, we are grateful to the federal government and the CBN for remembering cocoa farmers,’’ he said.
In his remarks, the representative of Development Finance Office, CBN, Ibadan, Mr Adeola Adegbesan, said that the programme was also designed to link farmers with up-taker processors of cocoa beans.
He said that the gesture was to create employment, reduce input costs, train farmers and build their capacities.
“They can improve their yield, leave subsistent farming and grow to become commercial farmers,’’ he said.
The Anchor Borrowers Programme, which was launched by President Muhammadu Buhari in November 2015, is intended to create a linkage between anchor companies involved in the processing of farm produce and smallholder farmers.
Dipo Olowookere