FirstBank Agric Expo: A collaborative effort to drive sustainable interest in agriculture

As part of its commitment to finance agric businesses across the value chain and to play its part in the nation’s drive for economic transformation through agriculture, First Bank Nigeria Limited, a foremost agric-friendly bank of repute will hold an inaugural agric expo on March 14 in Lagos.

In this interview, Mrs. Folake Ani-Mumuney, the bank’s Head of Marketing & Corporate Communication, says the bank’s decision to organize the expo arises from a believe that sustained agriculture can only be achieved through a collaborative effort so that Nigeria will be able to increase export capacity, reduce food importation thereby generating more revenue and improving balance of payment.

Kindly tell us why First Bank decided to organize the agric expo? 

Adesola Adeduntan, MD/CEO, FirstBank Nigeria 

As a nation builder and key enabler of economic growth, FirstBank is leading the discourse on revitalizing the nation’s agriculture sector and creating value for the entire agric value chain in alignment with its core strategy of galvanizing thoughts towards rejuvenating the agric business through resourceful diversification that will stimulate sustainable development for both the business and the economy. This maiden expo is in demonstration of our continued commitment to finance agric. businesses across the value chain as a foremost Agric-friendly Bank of repute.

This initiative also clearly aligns with the current administration’s vision to work with key stakeholders to build an agribusiness economy capable of delivering sustained prosperity by meeting domestic food security goals, generating exports, and supporting sustainable income and job growth.

Who are the target audience and what are the expected outcomes of the expo?

With this expo, we aim to reach all Nigerians interested in the drive for economic transformation through agriculture, customers of the bank & most especially agricultural clients across the value chain; producers, processors, Agro-storage clients, marketers of agricultural produce, agro-dealers/ input suppliers, exporters and the likes. As a capacity building initiative, we expect that the discussions from master-classes and panels would also go a long way in educating customers on how to become better business owners in the agric space.

We also believe that this expo would create a veritable platform for various stakeholders in the agric sector to showcase their products and specialised offerings to our target publics.

We expect that at the end of this event, our agric banking offerings would be better tailored to suit specific customer needs.

The invitation mentioned innovative solutions to business developments. What are some of these solutions?

Our deep understanding of the agric sector has helped us to leverage emerging technology in providing convenient and accessible banking services and solutions to key stakeholders in this sector of the economy. We are partnering technology firms to support agricultural clients through electronic payment and collections systems which clearly drive financial inclusion and align with the CBN cashless policy drive. We have also worked with the technology firms in onboarding clients on various financial platforms to support their businesses.

We are also deploying business solution/options in partnership with key Agric stakeholders to make non-bankable farmers bankable e.g. through fertilizer finance platform (GES), and value chain financing among others. Furthermore, we have a bouquet of product offerings to cater for business needs (GEM acct, SMEs, Online enquires on Agric businesses with 24hr TAT response).

Beyond these, we provide technical & financial advisory services/support to our customers where necessary at no cost as a way of boosting capacity across the entire value chain.

In what ways has FirstBank supported agriculture in the past?

Our support for agriculture dates back to its inception where we commenced operations in the 19th century from an agricultural background by distributing Bank was the major commercial bank financing the operation of Commodity Marketing Boards in 1950s and 60s. In the 30s, the Bank was fondly referred to as the “COCOA BANK.”

We have also instituted several initiatives in previous years to support agriculture and these include Agric warehousing Bank for produce /currencies exchange, creation of a suite of products called “Farmers First ” to cater for farmers’ financial needs across the entire agric value chain. 

We have also actively participated in all CBN/Ministry of Agric Interventions from inception to date namely Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF), Agric Credit Support Scheme (ACSS), Commercial Agric Credit Scheme(CACS), Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES), Partnering with NIRSAL (Nigerian Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending) and most recently the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), Real Sector Support Facility (RSSF)  and Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF).

Till date, FirstBank has financed the highest number of projects under CACS and has worked in tripartite PPP arrangement with several international organizations; notable among which are the UK’s DFID initiative to support Tractor Finance for customers and USAID’s MARKETS II for knowledge sharing in agricultural financing.

Also worthy of note is our support for salary earners who also have agricultural businesses and needed more funds for expansion of their projects through our Multi-Channel Agric Finance Scheme (Multi-CAFS)

What role can agriculture play in sustaining national development?

The contributions of agriculture in stimulating economic growth cannot be exhausted. From improved agricultural production which can bolster food security, thereby reducing the level of poverty in the country to job creation through establishment of agric and agro allied industries, we believe that a collaborative effort at driving a sustained agriculture, will increase the country’s export capacity, reduce food importation thereby generating more revenue and improving our balance of payment. 

Also, increased support for agriculture will attract foreign investments and this will see increased spring-ups of Agricultural companies in rural areas, close to the source of primary raw materials. This in-turn reduces rural-urban migration and ensures more developments in the rural areas, creating more jobs for the populace.

Agriculture also plays a key role in improving income distribution, hence increasing per capita income of the country as more people get involved in agriculture