NIRSAL Partners NASENI on Agriculture Mechanisation

The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) Plc has partnered the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) in a landmark initiative that is expected to create 110,000 jobs.

Under the agreement, the risk management agency is engaging NASENI as its technical collaborative partner for the conceptualisation, design, development, deployment, implementation and execution of various schemes/projects under the NIRSAL-NASENI Comprehensive Tractor Recovery Scheme.

It will further cover the Modular Geo-Cooperative-Based Irrigation System for Smallholder Farmers and other agricultural value chain-related challenges requiring efficient homegrown scientific and engineering solutions for proof of concept projects and scale-up to attract finance and investment into fixed value chains.

The move is in continuation of NIRSAL’s strategy of delivering on its mandate of providing end-to-end solutions aimed at fixing breakages along the Agricultural Value Chains (AVC) in the country.

Managing Director/Chief Executive, NIRSAL, Mr. Aliyu Abdulhameed, at the launch event in Abuja, said the deal would support the federal government’s efforts aimed at achieving economic stability and prosperity for Nigerians.

He expressed optimism that the partnership would ensure that there are sustainable fixes to identified challenges facing the agribusiness sector in the country.

The MD stressed that the partnership would go a long way in maximising the agricultural potentials of the country, thereby contributing to the achievement of food security, inclusive economic growth, diversification, and employment generation.

He said the risk assessment agency remained committed to ensuring a successful collaboration, adding that it would extend its Credit Risk Guarantee (CRG) cover to the finance invested into the scheme.

NIRSAL will also provide project monitoring, reporting and remediation services; provide technical assistance, capacity building and advisory services as well as create, provide and facilitate capital market opportunities.

As part of the partnership, NIRSAL and NASENI would crowd-in stakeholders from all AVC segments to create AVC-wide commercially viable platforms anchored on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs).

Abdulhameed, explained that to make up for the deficit in tractors and other mechanisation equipment, both parties will recover and reinvigorate idle agricultural equipment for enhanced mechanisation of of the sector.

He pointed out that the deal will further leverage on the technological capacity of NASENI in the area of solar modules production to create a critical backbone in the provision of off-grid energy to power modular irrigation and agro-processing clusters that are domiciled within NIRSAL Agro Geo-Cooperative clusters.

He said the partnership, like all of NIRSAL’s strategic interventions, will create widespread socioeconomic development, adding that least 110,000 jobs comprising 10,000 direct and 100,000 indirect employments.

However, NASENI’s Executive Vice- Chairman, Prof. Mohammed Haruna, assured that the organisation will provide cutting edge research and development on innovative approaches for all the schemes and projects under the agreement to advance mechanisation, modular irrigation activities and other agricultural engineering solutions across the value chain.

Written by: James Emejo

This Day

Read more: https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2021/03/16/nirsal-partners-naseni-on-agriculture-mechanisation/