26- V alngtAard, MONDAY;. AUGUST 8# 2011
First Bank:
Financing the entire agric value chain he p articipatio n of Fi rst Dan k of Nigelia Pic in the Commen:ial Agricultu ral Cre1it Scheme tCACS) is driven by Its commitme nt to su pport Government's e fforts lowards the atta inment of food securi ty a nd econom ic diverSlficalion. It IS this samecommitmenl that prompted the Bank to deve lop and Introduce 8Farmers Firs t", a SUIt 0 1 agricu ltural finan d ng solutio ns speciall y designed 10 help Il!IaU scal!' larmers to acress fundin g , li n k t h em wit h i ndustri a l e n d- u sers of t heir products, and prom ote agricultur e as an a ll raclive p rofessi on and business to youths. nle IJanks' commitm ent to the aglicl.lltural s ector is rooted in the fi nn belief that agriculture is very importan t to lIle nation's economic development. Hence it bas been partidpating in various go\'ernment inilialives to boost lending to Ule sector. For example, th e Blink p artici p ated and exceeded ex pecta lions in Ihe A9.ricultura[ Credit Support Sch eme /ACSS) i niti ated by th e O basanjo admini s tration 10 In c rease ba n ks' lending to th e sector by NSO billion. '1\lthough we ~-ele s upposed to le nd N2 billion, we did NJ .7 billion", thereby de monstrating our stalus as m ajor stakeholders in th e agric ul tura l sector. We do n 't do things only uecause of government policy but beca use o f our passio n for the secl ar The Bank said . ConliequenUy, when the CACS w as introdu ced in 2009, the bank embraced il as an opportunity to further demonstrate ilJl passion for the sector and contribute to its growth . Thus, U,e Bank has funded 31 com me rcia l IIgric u Jtura l bU lil nesses with l oanS amounting to N12 .8S billion. The businesses funded by th e Ban k cover all the eligible activities s pecified und e r th e sch e m e lI nd the entire velue c h ain. This Include lives toc k prod uction, poulby fanning, fis h la rming, crop production an d crop processing. 11le Bank also supported bus inesses in stock piling and marketing of produce, animal husbandry, process ing and mMketing.
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The Bank's funding support h ll!ll been guided by the objective of the scheme, which Is to Increase th e scal e of agr i cu ltu r a l productton In the country. Thus . ag r icu ltura l b Usinesses s uppo rte d by th e Bank h ave eithe r doub led capaci t y or improved production e Ui dency. " For exam ple we have poultry p rojects th at h ave the capacity for ten lhousand layers that are c urrently runnin g on fo rl y Iho u sand l aye rs~, said Ernest Ndubisi Ibedigbo. H eod of Agric
- Onasanya, GMDICEO Firs! Bank
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The bank's commitment to the agricultural sector is rooted in the firm belief that agriculture is very inlportant to the nation's economic development
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Fin4llce Department, FlrstBank conve rted In t o closed bio· O n ho w the Banles' fun di n g security hOUSeS wi th tunn e l support is e nhancing ve ntil ation a nd a utomate d agricultural businesses th rough waste removal, au tomated feed, th e scheme, h e sai d "We h ave automated egg collection and crop processing businesses like au tomated egg grading ve ge table oi l extraction projects functions ful ly built up, whicb Is tha t have b a d 10 increase 1'1 complete departure from wh at crusbing capacity h om barely they were d oing. So aside Irom one thousand tonnes of gnlin to th e lact that the expanded scale about five tbousand tonnes of in terms of th e number 01 bhds graios and 10 be able to do this they c an raile, the system of they have h ad to invest In new produ ction has also been equipment, new m achinery and c h a nge d wit h up to d a t e new Infrastructure and ha.ve bad technology, enhandng not only to expand their s t a ff oUlpu t in te rms o f volumes co mp lement. Some of t h e but also prod uction efficien cy a.s businesses h ilYe even engllged we U. ezpatrlate management in other The n in the area of vegetable to fuUy m ana ge the n ew scale 0 1 oil processing like I menUoned, operation as a res ult of this we have funded businesses that scheme. And some h ave invested have had to shift from ordinary in completely n e w lechnology, mech anical extraction of pu re something comple te ly dillerent vegeta b le a ll to solvent from wbat they are u sed to. extractioD whic h Is lhe latest For example in the poultry tech nol ogy. Wltb solvent sector, w e h ave bwinesses who ' extraction their extraction rates were operating simple deep litter life higher and Uley are making laye r farm s th at bave now more profit relative to when Uley
were doing m ech anical extraction. And i n terms of c r o p productton too, OUI Commercial Agriculture Credit Support b as helped businesse s 10 \Dclease lheh Reel 01 trllclors and some b ave intro du ced irrigation factIi ties. ~ AnlBank is a lso impacting th e agri c ultural seclor IIHOUgb its Fanners First s uite of agricul tUIallinancing products, designed to address the need of the retail- e nd of the sector. Launched in 2007, It comprises six p roducts namely Guaranteed Fund C redit, th e fndustrlal End·V5er Out Grower Scheme , the Agricul tu ral Produce Finance, Ihe C oopera ti ve Unkage Banking Scheme, Ule First BankAgTicultural C redit to Schools and Muill -Channe ls Agricultural Fin ance Schcm.e . Eac h of th ese prod u c ts was structwed to addless some of Ute known cons uaints of small scale farm ers i n accessing credit. These constraints revolve around accep table co\late raJ, Interel t rate, tenor of credH as we ll 1'15 obligor type. The products were destgned to provide sol utions for the small scale fanners wbo 011 their own ma y not be a ble to qu al Hy lor the bank's con ventlon!! 1 term loans a nd ove rdraft fo r l arge scale Investmenl in agriculture. G u a r ant~ed Fun d Credit (G Fq, The Gua ranteed Fund Cred!t (GFC) e:nables farmers to access credit facility of up to Nlmlllion even when they can only provide 2S% casb securi ty
cover an d a guarantol. Farmers w i th collateral can access as m uch as N10million. unde r this schem e. Tn e Fund G u araoteed Credi t provides credit for va r iou s a gri cu ltur al enterprises under a guarantee fund model It deri vC!!'; its essence from th e Agricultural C r e dit G u a ran t ee Scheme o! the Central Bank of N ige lia. It enables farmers to enjoy a re fund of up to 4 0~ of in terest paid on credit faciliti es und er an inlerest Draw Back Prog r a mme s ponsored by the Fed e l al Government an d C BN M ultl ·Cha nnels Agricultura l Finance Sch e me (Multi · eAFS ), The p roduct farm e rs helps ease th e cash fl ow problems of sahuy ea rn us Im·olved in farmi ng /lS it provi d es work.ing capital 5u pport lor the small scal e farmi ng activ iti es o f salary eamels. Such huming activilies M e pursued alo ngside with regular p aid e lll ployment as a m eans of augmenting hou seho ld in come . C r e d it fa c ilities granted und e r thi s progr a mm e can b e repaid fl om th e mon thl y salar y, the farm operill.tlon , a n d an y o the r income genera ti ng activi ty of the farmer:. Flls tBank Agriculturl\l Credil To Sc hools (FACTS ): This p r oduc ts p rov ides worki ng capita l loans to secondary schools and tertiary in stitutions wiUI agricultural and a!Jfo.allied p rojects. th e " fac ilita t es commerclallzallon o f sc hoo l farlll proje ctsl busi n esses in seconddfY a nd terti a ry Institu ti ons that ha\'e agricu ltural science plograms, demonstratlonl p il ot fa rms, bakeries or r e late d p rolec ts. Although serving primarily 10 impMt knowledge to studenu, sucb school p rojects provide an avenue for th e schoo ls to diversify their sources of revenue i n th e l ace of insuffici e nt fu nding . It a ls o stimulates interesl tn agri busin ess and the a gric u ltural profession among youth l. Ve r y recently, FIr SIBank introduced an Innovative tractorl farm machinery finance scheme call ed "FirstTRAC" . Thi s is deliberately designed 10 move tra c t or service away fr om gove rnment to a sustai nable and purely priva t e-sec lor le d initiative. The objective js to drive fa rm m echaniza tion by iocreasing ave r age tracto r d e nsily per h ec tar e, ex pand avera ge farm holding and output pe r farmer a nd elimina t e ' drudg e ry in farmi ng . Thi s Initiative is being Impleme nled in p a rtnersh ip with DFID · PrOpCom.