he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said Monday that it planned to leverage about N450 billion in bank lending to the agriculture sector and narrow the existing 60 per cent financing gap in the segment.

It also said it was determined to raise total bank lending to the agricultural sector to 10 per cent from the current two per cent within the next five years.

Speaking in Abuja at a media briefing on the forthcoming Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) stakeholders’ conference planned for July 5 and 6, 2011, the Acting Director, Development Finance Department, CBN, Mr Paul Eluhaiwe, also said that a total of N133.5 billion had been accessed by banks from the apex bank’s Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS) Fund designed to boost lending to agriculture.

Eluhaiwe added that the value of the Agriculture Credit Guarantee scheme now stood at N5 billion from its initial value of N3 billion, adding that over 700,000 farmers had benefitted from the scheme till date.

The CBN director said the stakeholders’ conference expected to be declared open by President Goodluck Jonathan would expose participants to the NIRSAL design for extensive discussion with a view to obtaining their inputs and buy-in; clarify and obtain better understanding of the roles expected of relevant stakeholders in the implementation of the programme as well as discuss identified impediments to a successful implementation of the initiative.

He said NIRSAL was a calculated effort by the apex bank to break the “sad history of stagnation and decline” in the agricultural sector of the economy by, among other things, stimulating innovations in agricultural lending; eliminating state-dependency by banks for deploying loan-able funds to the sector as well as reduce banks’ perception of agriculture as highly risky.

He added that currently, several of the country’s agricultural value chains had missing links and farmers could not be trusted to make money and repay loans.

NIRSAL is a holistic and ambitious programme designed to complement the Federal Government’s commitment in achieving food security, increased job creation and poverty reduction in the country.