CBN Unveils Maize Pyramid, Says Will Resist Pressure From Importers- Emefiele

The Central Bank of Nigeria, on Thursday, said it will resist pressure to fritter the nation’s scarce foreign exchange away on maize import, insisting that there is enough locally to close the 4.5m metric tonnes demand gap.

Speaking in Katsina, 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, Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor said with over 50,000 bags of maize available across the country, Nigerian farmers can meet the country’s demand.

He explained that the maize unveiled at the ceremony would be sold to reputable feed processors, a situation he believes would, in turn, impact positively on current poultry feed prices, as over 60% of maize produced in the country is used for producing poultry feed.

Governor Bagudu cutting the tape to unveil the maize pyramid in Katsina on Thursday, with him are Governors Masari (left), and Badaru (second right), as well as Emefiele in Katsina

He therefore urged the nation’s youths to embrace agriculture, restating the bank’s readiness to support youths who are willing to engage, while leveraging their talents, along with technological tools to improve farm productivity and delivery of agricultural produce to markets.

Agriculture, he stressed, offered significant benefits for Nigerian youth, reiterating that the CBN has several measures in place to improve access to credit for youths interested in agriculture under its Anchor Borrowers Programme and the Agri Business Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS).

According to Emefiele, youth groups with contiguous land for farming are eligible to seek the CBN’s support through the prime anchor arrangement, assuring that “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.”

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 CBN and MAAN are partnering to double the targeted hectarage for 2021 to 500,000 ha from last year’s 250,000 ha target, to achieve the target, he said the apex bank sought to introduce the use of contiguous land. He listed others as high-yielding seeds, mechanization, leveraging technology for land mapping and monitoring as well as expanding the Strategic Maize Reserve (SMR), following which 100,000 metric tonnes of maize have, so far, been released 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. The nation, he stressed, could not continue to dwell on the neglect of yester years if it is determined to realize its target of producing what Nigerians eat, and eat what is produced locally.

Justifying the CBN’s continued strategic intervention in the value chains of focal crops, he said “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.”

Emefiele

He therefore urged Nigerian youths to embrace agriculture, restating the apex bank’s readiness to support youths willing to engage, while leveraging their talents, along with technological tools to improve farm productivity and delivery of agricultural produce to markets.

Agriculture, he stressed, offered significant benefits for Nigerian youth, reiterating that the CBN has several measures in place to improve access to credit for youths interested in agriculture under its Anchor Borrowers Programme and the Agri Business Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS).

According to Emefiele, youth groups with contiguous land for farming are eligible to seek the CBN’s support through the prime anchor arrangement, assuring that “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.”

Also speaking, Governor Bello Masari, said the state had suffered a setback in agriculture as over 60,000 hectares of farmland is uncultivated due to insurgency, which hindered farmers from gaining access to their means of livelihood.

The Governor of Kebbi State Atiku Abubakar Bagudu, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari, while unveiling the pyramids, reassured the farmers, processors, and other value chain participants, of the government’s support to ensure that they perform optimally. This is why, he continued, why inputs like high yield seedlings and fertilizers are being made available to farmers, in addition, to prompt off-taking of produce.

He further assured the people of the area that government was taking the security challenge with the seriousness it requires and have resolved to stem it. He therefore commended the resilience of the farmers for the quantity maize produced amidst the insecurity.

On his part, Governor Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa State recalled with nostalgia the historic groundnut pyramids he read about in history books are today being reenacted physically in rice and maize across the country with the help of the CBN. He also encouraged youths to take to agriculture for wealth creation by embracing the schemes put in place by the apex bank.

Speaking at the event, the Emir of Katsina, Abdul Mumin Kabir, bemoaned the security situation in the area and therefore appealed for serious interventions to encourage farming while sustaining the success recorded so far.

Commending the CBN for injecting N50bn 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 to also benefit from the scheme.

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