…vows to resist importation of maize in Nigeria
KATSINA – The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele has urged youths in Nigeria to embrace agriculture, declaring the Bank’s readiness to support youths that are willing to engage in agriculture.
This is even as the Governor reiterated the Bank’s opposition to the importation of maize into
Nigeria.
Mr. Emefiele made the declaration in Katsina on Thursday, May 6, 2021, during
the unveiling of the first maize pyramid and flag-off of the 2021 Maize wet season
farming under the CBN-Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN) Anchor Borrowers’
Programme.
He expressed belief that Nigerian youth could leverage their talents, along with
technological tools to improve farm productivity and delivery of agricultural
produce to markets.
While noting that agriculture offered significant benefits for the youth, Emefiele
reiterated that the Bank had put in place several measures to improve access to
credit for youths interested in Agriculture under the Anchor Borrowers
Programme and the Agri Business Small and Medium Enterprise Investment
Scheme(AGSMEIS).
According to him, groups of youth with contiguous land for farming are eligible to
seek the Bank’s support through the CBN prime anchor arrangement.
“The CBN will not only provide access to credit for these youths but will also
provide guarantees that their produce will be purchased by a prime anchor at
agreed prices,” the Governor assured.
Meanwhile, Mr. Emefiele said the CBN would resist attempts by those who seek
to continually import maize into the country, noting that maize farmers in Nigeria
had what it takes to close the maize demand gap of over 4.5 million metric tonnes
in the country.
“With over 50,000 bags of maize available on this ground, and others aggregated
across the country, maize farmers are sending a resounding message that “we can
grow enough maize to meet the country’s demand,’” he declared.
Speaking further, Mr. Emefiele explained that the maize unveiled at the ceremony
would be sold to reputable feed processors, adding that this would in turn impact
positively on current poultry feed prices, as over 60% of maize produced in the
country are used for producing poultry feed.
Justifying the Bank’s continued strategic intervention in the value chains of focal
crops, he said the CBN was leading the revolution, because the impact of our
monetary policy measures would be limited, if the monetary authority in
collaboration with the fiscal authorities failed to address some of the structural
constraints that limit productivity in key sectors of our economy such as
agriculture. Specifically, he said the Bank’s intervention was in line with its
mandate and aims at ensuring price stability as well as improved availability of
staple food items.
He disclosed that the Bank and MAAN sought to increase the target hectarage for
2021 to 500,000 ha from the 2020 target of 250,000 ha, adding that to achieve
the target, the Bank sought to introduce the use of contiguous land, high yielding
seeds, mechanization, leveraging technology for land mapping and monitoring as
well as expanding the Strategic Maize Reserve (SMR). So far, he said the Bank had
released 100,000 metric tonnes of maize to the market, through the major
producers.
Emefiele therefore urged all stakeholders to sustain the current efforts to
galvanize agricultural production to meet the requirements of Nigeria’s growing
population, stressing that the nation could not continue to dwell on the neglect of
past years if it was determined to realize the national target of producing what
Nigerians eat and eating what is produced in Nigeria.
Also speaking, the Katsina State Governor, Rt. Hon. Bello Masari, said that the
state had suffered a setback in agriculture as over sixty thousand hectares of
farmlands were uncultivated due to insurgency, which hindered farmers from
gaining access to their means of livelihood.
The Governor of Kebbi state Senotor Atiku Abubakar Bagudu who represented
President Muhammadu Buhari while unveiling the pyramids, reassured the
farmers, processors and other value chain participants, of the support of
government towards ensuring that they perform optimally. Hence, he said
availability of inputs like high yield seedlings and fertilizers were being made
available to farmers adequately in addition to prompt off-taking of produce.
He further assured the people of the area that government was taking the
security challenge with every seriousness and had resolved to stem it. He
therefore commended the resilience of farmers for quantity of maize produced
amidst the insecurity.
In his remarks, Governor Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa state recalled with nostalgia
that the historical groundnut pyramids he read about in history books were today
being seen physically in rice and maize across the country through the help of the
Central Bank of Nigeria. He also encouraged youths to take to agriculture for
wealth creation by embracing the schemes put in place by the Bank.
Speaking at the event, The Emir of Katsina, AbdulMumin Kabir, bemoaned the
security situation in the area and therefore pleaded for serious interventions in
order encourage farming activities and sustain the success recorded so far.
Commending the CBN for injecting N50billion into the Commodity Exchange
initiative, the President, Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN), Bello Abubakar,
said MAAN had recorded about 80% loan recovery rate since the association
began to participate in the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme in 2017. He
nevertheless urged farmers to repay their loans to enable others also benefit
from the scheme.
