The Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), and Germany Agribusiness Alliance (GAA) have sagreed a pact to promote small scale agribusiness across the country.
Speaking, managing director of NIRSAL, Mr Aliyu Abudlhammed revealed while addressing pressmen at the 2019 NIRSAL-GAA Agribusiness Investment workshop in Abuja, yesterday.
“The partnership with German Agribusiness Alliance is one of such significant collaborations that will strengthen the bilateral relations between Nigeria and Germany towards promoting sustainable investments in Nigeria.
“We recognise the importance of strategic partnerships as a sine qua non in boosting the success of agriculture and agribusinesses, but in providing the capitals that our people need to improve their livelihoods.
“The partnership with the German Agribusiness Alliance and by extension, German agribusinesses, has been identified as a potential strategic leverage for obtaining valuable benefits for NIRSAL and Nigeria towards the establishment of agro-industrial projects,” Abudlhammed said.
Stressing that the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending is a US$500million Non-Bank Financial Institution and a wholly-owned corporation of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) designed to Redefine, Dimension, Measure, Re-Price and Share agribusiness-related credit risk.
He added that the agribusiness company was created to stimulate the flow of affordable finance and investments into the agricultural sector by de-risking the agribusiness finance value chain, fixing agricultural value chains, building long-term capacity.
He further put it that the institutionalising incentives for agricultural lending through its five (5) strategic pillars namely: Risk Sharing, Insurance, Technical Assistance, Incentives and Rating.
However, encouraged the German agribusinesses to take advantage of the abundant opportunities available in Nigeria especially the large land, water resources, labour and markets to create value for Germany and Nigeria.
In the same vien, the President of German Agribusiness Alliance and German African Business Association, Mr Frank Nordmann, said that the agribusiness partnership would create jobs for Nigeria youths.
‘‘We came to Nigerian to support the farmers in bringing agricultural technology and also add value to the products. To work with local companies to feed over two hundred population of Nigerian, the local company will not only produced the food but, the product that use.
“We are bring into Nigeria the European food Standard that will enable a good produce for Nigeria health,’ He concluded.