Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme was established to help smallholder farmers access financing, seeds, fertilisers and other farm inputs to increase food production.
However, questions over the management of the scheme have raised concerns about whether the support reached the farmers it was designed to assist.
Reports on the programme have highlighted allegations that politically connected individuals, relatives of influential figures and other beneficiaries without genuine farming operations accessed funds and agricultural inputs meant for smallholder farmers.
The concerns come amid investigations into billions of naira disbursed through the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) agricultural intervention scheme.
In June 2025, the House of Representatives began investigating the alleged diversion of about ₦1.12 trillion allocated to the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme. Lawmakers raised questions about the handling of the funds by government ministries, departments and agencies, as well as participating financial institutions.
The programme reportedly disbursed the money to about 4.67 million farmers through 563 anchors. However, the legislative inquiry raised concerns about gaps in the documentation supplied by participating financial institutions.
A major concern surrounding agricultural intervention programmes is the alleged use of fake farmer registrations, questionable cooperative societies and politically influenced beneficiary lists to obtain public support.
Under such arrangements, individuals who do not operate genuine farms may allegedly access subsidised fertilisers, seeds, loans and other agricultural benefits through personal connections.
Agricultural experts and farmers’ representatives have also raised concerns about the alleged diversion of farm inputs for resale rather than their use in food production.
These claims point to weaknesses in beneficiary verification and monitoring. However, allegations involving politicians, their spouses or associates must be assessed against documented evidence and the findings of investigations rather than treated as established guilt.
The scale of the programme has intensified calls for greater transparency. In February 2026, reports on a lawsuit filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) highlighted more than ₦629 billion in Anchor Borrowers’ Programme funds that the Auditor-General of the Federation said the CBN had failed to recover.
The audit concerns included a lack of adequate information about beneficiaries and questions over the use and recovery of the funds. The allegations prompted demands for the CBN to explain how the money was disbursed and what steps had been taken to recover outstanding loans.
Unrecovered loans do not automatically prove that the money was stolen. They do, however, raise questions about the programme’s administration, repayment enforcement and ability to sustain agricultural financing.
The controversy has renewed calls for the publication of beneficiary lists, independent audits, physical verification of farms and transparent records of disbursements and repayments.
Experts have also argued that agricultural support should be tied to verifiable farming activities, with stronger monitoring to prevent the diversion of inputs and loans.
For genuine farmers, the stakes are significant. When funding fails to reach intended beneficiaries, it can weaken food production, waste public resources and undermine efforts to reduce food prices.
The central question is whether the authorities can establish who received the funds, how the money was used and what recovery or accountability measures will follow. Clear answers are essential to restoring confidence in government-backed agricultural financing.