Wema Bank Plc has committed N2 billion to fund agriculture,
support farmers and agric-value chain. The investment reaffirms the bank’s
commitment to applying technology in delivering excellent financial solutions
to Nigerians.
To help to develop the agribusiness value chain, the bank
has signed a tripartite commodity aggregation finance scheme with Cellulant
Nigeria and Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural
Lending (NIRSAL) Plc.
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Cellulant owns Agrikore Marketplace, a solution-focused on
digitalising both the production and marketing segments of the agric value
chain by linking all the players from the production level to the marketing and
consumption level, while NIRSAL is a non-bank financial institution owned by
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) created to redefine, measure and share
agribusiness-related credit risks in Nigeria.
The tripartite partnership is focused on providing easily
accessible, affordable funding to all participants in the co-created platform.
The aim is to create access-to-market and access-to-finance for farmers,
aggregators, retailers and other primary stakeholders in the agribusiness
sector.
Speaking at the Inaugural Partners’ Summit organised by
Cellulant in Lagos, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Wema Bank,
Ademola Adebise, reiterated the importance of cooperation between every player
in the agric value chain.
Speaking on the theme: “Financing the Agric Value Chain to
Deliver Transactional Impact to Stakeholders,” Adebise noted that “holistic
interventions across the value chain are required to achieve the desired impact
and outcomes in the sector.” He identified a low level of budgetary allocation,
negligible financial literacy, a large percentage of unbanked population and
the limited understanding of the value chain as part of the challenges facing
the agric sector.
He added that Wema Bank has committed N2 billion in funds,
which is available for immediate drawdown to commodity aggregators on the
Cellulant network to facilitate trade across the value chain. The partnership
will also see NIRSAL provide credit risk guarantees for all borrowers in the
scheme.
“We are collaborating to provide sustainable finance and
market access for the small and medium scale agribusinesses in underbanked
rural areas in Nigeria, without the need for traditional brick and mortar bank
branches,” Adebise said.
Leveraging on digital technology, Wema Bank’s suite of
products including ALAT by Wema, *945#, Bankpass and Wema MoMoney, will ensure
its capacity to provide financial service across the agricultural value chain,
regardless of our physical presence.