Nigeria’s Bank of Agriculture (BoA) has said that the Federal Government saved about $800 million by encouraging local production of rice in the country.Mr. Niyi Akenzua, the Executive Director, Finance and Risk Management of BoA, said ahead of the “Meet the Farmers Conference” (MTFC) 2018 scheduled for October 10, that the initiative of the government to diversify the economy with special focus on agriculture was commendable.
He said the government restructured the BoA in 2016 to enable it render critical assistance to the agricultural sector in terms of food security and increased export of agro-products to boost the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“The Central Bank of Nigeria facilitated a $817 million intervention fund for the BoA, which is being disbursed through the Anchor Borrower’s Programme.
“In 2017, we disbursed about $400 million to farmers and we have also disbursed almost 40 percent of the money in 2018,” Akenzua said.
He said that rice production had increased to a level that people could ever imagined and that the government was targeting early 2019 to fully stop importation of rice.
Akenzua said the emphasis was being placed on standardising and packaging of agricultural products from Nigeria to make them acceptable to the export market.
The conference, which is organised by Crenov8 Consulting, is aimed at exposing African farmers to the opportunities in agro-export, especially to Dubai and other Middle-East countries.
