FirstBank’s history is rich with testimonies of strong commitment to agricultural financing. From the early days of currency distribution in support of produce trade between West Africa and Europe to its present status as a financial supermarket, our Bank has continued to play an exemplary role in the development of the nation’s agricultural and allied sectors.

Strengths

• A large network of branches appropriately positioned for easy access to agricultural enterprises in urban, sub-urban and rural areas;
• A dedicated team of agricultural professionals specializing in various agricultural disciplines;
• A suite of sector/customer-friendly agricultural financing products;
• A large base of existing agricultural and agro-allied clientele across Nigeria;
• Professorial chairs endowed in some Nigerian Universities in support of research in Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine.

Services and Products
FirstBank’s agricultural financing operations cover a wide array of agricultural activities ranging from production to processing and marketing. Our services are designed to suit the entire range of micro, small, medium and large agricultural businesses. Our product offerings include:

The FirstBank Farm Settlement Scheme
This is a programme designed to create a community where Nigerian youths interested in Agriculture live and work together on individual farm projects in all the states of the federation. It is a classical model of the much desired Public-Private sector partnership involving the Bank, a State Government and the CBN. Under the arrangement, the State Government provides the infrastructure, while the Bank provides working capital and the young farmers contribute their skill and manpower. The objectives of the programme include:

• Complementing governments effort to create employment
• Engender national food security
• Inculcate and stimulate pride in the agricultural profession among young Nigerian
• Create a new generation of economic actors and employers of labour and contribute to rural development.

Guaranteed Fund Credit (GFC)
FirstBank’s Guaranteed Fund Credit (GFC) enables you to access credit facility of up to N1million as a farmer even when you can only provide 25% security cover for your borrowing. Farmers with collateral can access as much as N10million under this scheme.

The Guaranteed Fund Credit provides credit for various agricultural enterprises under a guarantee fund model. It derives its essence from the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

It enables farmers to enjoy a refund of up to 40% of interest paid on credit facilities under an Interest Draw Back Programme sponsored by the Federal Government and CBN

Multi-Channels Agricultural Finance Scheme (Multi-CAFS)
Multi-Channels Agricultural Finance Scheme helps ease the cashflow problems of salary earners involved in farming. It is the perfect way to keep your farm in business while you get on with the business of your regular job.

The scheme provides working capital support for the small scale farming activities of salary earners. Such farming activities are pursued along side with regular paid employment as a means of augmenting household income. Credit facilities granted under this programme can be repaid from the monthly salary, the farm operation, and any other income generating activity of the farmer.

FirstBank Agricultural Credit To Schools (FACTS)
FirstBank Agricultural Credit To Schools provides working capital loans to secondary schools and tertiary institutions with agricultural and agro-allied projects.

It facilitates the commercialization of school farm projects/ businesses in secondary and tertiary institutions that have agricultural science programs, demonstration/ pilot farms, bakeries or related projects. Although serving primarily to impart knowledge to students, such school projects provide an avenue for the schools to diversify their sources of revenue in the face of insufficient funding. It also stimulates interest in agribusiness and the agricultural profession among youths

National Agro Dealer Scheme (NADS)-Plus
This product is designed to provide credit facilities to agro-dealers, merchants and suppliers of agricultural inputs who will participate in the Federal Government’s Agro Input Purchasing Power Support program. The support program is coming in the wake of the government’s deregulation of and withdrawal from direct procurement and distribution of agricultural inputs. In order to enhance access and ensure affordability, government is complementing the National Agro Dealer Scheme with the Purchasing Power Support (subsidy) to facilitate the off-take of inputs by farmers. This scheme provides an avenue to assist in effective administration of agricultural input subsidy.

GSM 102
The GSM-102 is an export credit guarantee programme. The purpose is to encourage US Exporters and Banks to extend credit to approved foreign buyers of agricultural produce and inputs through approved Banks.

The programme underwrites credit extended by the private banking sector in the United States to FirstBank using dollar-denominated irrevocable letters of credit. Under this arrangement, FirstBank guarantees payment to the US Bank which in turn refinances the U.S. Exporter. A credit limit of $20million is available for use by our valued and tested customers.

With the lower yield of primary agric produce and lingering crises in neighboring African countries, this facility provides a window for sourcing inputs to meet livestock and agro-industrial processing needs at a single digit interest rate.

Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme
The Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme is established by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources as a strategic response to the lingering food and energy crisis worsened by global financial melt down. The fund is sourced from a N200 Billion Federal Government of Nigeria Bond structured into 3, 5 and 10-year tenor, with the same status as any other Federal Government Bonds, and it is secured against the assets of the Federal Government. Based on clearly defined qualifying criteria FirstBank is selected as a participating Bank to disburse the fund to eligible medium and large scale integrated and non integrated agricultural projects.

The scheme is aimed at:

• fast-tracking the development of the agricultural sector by providing credit facilities to large scale enterprises at a single digit interest rate of 9% in order to enhance national food security, increase food supply and affect agricultural produce and product prices, thereby promoting low food inflation
• reducing cost of credit in agricultural production and enabling farmers to exploit the potentials in the sector.