…Vows to resist importation of maize
The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mr Godwin Emefiele Thursday urged youth in Nigeria to embrace agriculture, saying the CBN is ready to support youth willing to engage in agriculture activities.
The CBN governor said this during the unveiling of the first maize pyramid and flagging-off of the 2021 Maize wet season farming under the CBN-Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN) Anchor Borrowers’ Programme held in Katsina, Katsina state.
He said Nigerian youth could leverage their talents along with technological tools to improve farm productivity and delivery of agricultural produce to markets.
While stressing that agriculture offered significant benefits for the youth, Emefiele said the CBN 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,” he said.
Emefiele also disclosed that the CBN would resist attempts by those who seek to continually import maize into the country, stressing that Nigerian maize farmers 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 said.
He said 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 CBN’s continued strategic intervention in the value chains of focal crops, Emefiele said the bank was leading the revolution because the impact of its 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.
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 said the CBN 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 CBN 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).
He said the CBN had so far released 100,000 metric tonnes of maize to the market, through the major producers.
He 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, Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi state, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari, reassured the farmers, processors and other value chain participants of the support of government towards ensuring that they perform optimally. 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 also assured the people of the area that government was taking the security challenge with every seriousness and had resolved to stem it.
He 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.
In his remarks, Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State said 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.
