By Musa Ubandawaki, Sokoto

SOKOTO: NIRSAL has trained fish farmers and agricultural extension workers on profitable value chains and best practices in Sokoto.

NIRSAL’s lead trainer, Mr Baba Robert, told the Newsmen on Friday that, the programme is under the Technical Assistance Pillar of NIRSAL mandates.

”NIRSAL is working towards reaching 100,000 fish, cassava, and rice farmers across the country this year with its training on the optimization of Agro Geo-Cooperatives to support the Federal Government’s policy on food security.

” The train-the-trainer programme which comprised 500 participants, is intended to impact a further 3,500 farmers during the step-down phase and boost Sokoto’s position as a regional fish hub.

” The programme was aimed at boosting farmers’ capacities to access and repay commercial loans and other finances, inputs, optimize their harvests and produce aggregation, and boost their access to secured markets. ” Robert said.

According to him, NIRSAL had set out modalities to sensitize fish farmers on its value chain-fixing solutions, especially the Agro Geo-Cooperative (AGC) model which structures smallholder farmers.

He noted that the targeted farmers are expected to obtain enhanced capacity to produce at locations and ventured into financeable clusters with elaborate governance structures.

He called on the participants to adopt the AGC model of primary production because it is a solution to the perennial difficulties farmers encounter in their attempts to access finance and produce at scale.

” With the large size of each AGC, its governance structure, and the clear financial identities of its members, the risk of lending is reduced for banks and other lenders.

” NIRSAL availability will further de-risk loans extended to the farmers with its Credit Risk Guarantee (CRG) instrument which stands at 75% for primary production projects. ” he said.

Robert further explained that NIRSAL Plc is a Non-Bank Financial Institution and a wholly-owned corporation of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) incorporated in 2013 to stimulate the flow of affordable finance and investments into the agricultural sector.

He said as at June 2023, the corporation has facilitated over NGN219.5 billion for 893 agricultural projects from deposit money banks, the capital market, and other financial institutions.

The lead trainer appreciated the farmers’ visible delight and commitments, stressing that it shows they understood the lectures well enough to share this new knowledge with members of their respective groups.

A cross-section of participants expressed appreciation to NIRSAL on the training which had broadened their knowledge and provided them with modern business potentialities.