Following the failure of farmers in Kebbi State to pay back the loan given to them by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the Anchor Borrowers programme, the state government has embarked on a house -to -house debt recovery exercise.
Speaking to our correspondent, the chairman of the rice farmers association in Kebbi State, Alhaji Sahabi Augie said a high powered committee set up by the state government and headed by the deputy governor was already making progress in the recovery of the debt through this method.
He said, “As leaders of the rice farmers association in the state we are working with the committee to make sure that the defaulting farmers pay up the loan that was given to them. We have started going from house to house and I can tell you that they have started paying up their debt.”
78, 000 farmers in Kebbi State benefited from the N15 billion federal government dry season rice and wheat farming programme in 2016. However, months after harvesting their rice and wheat, many of the farmers are yet to redeem their debt to CBN even as the second leg of the programme for 2016 is about to commence.
Last month, the state government set up the debt recovery committee headed by the state deputy governor, Alhaji Samaila Yombe Dabai to go after the defaulting farmers.
A statement signed by the Deputy Governor’s Press Secretary, Malam Nura Wakkala Bena said the dry season farming which the farmers were given loan to cultivate yielded bountifully and government wondered why the farmers defaulted in the payment of the loan.