The release which was done, according to a statement, in the second week of February, led to a reduction in price from N200,000 per metric tonnes to about N180,000 per metric tonnes.

It is anticipated that the price will further reduce, as the release forestalls the pressure, while reducing activities of intermediaries (middlemen) in the Nigerian Maize market.

Major beneficiaries of the February release, the CBN noted, included: Premier Flour Mills, Crown – Olam, Grand Cereals, Animal Care, Amobyn and Hybrid Feeds. Others include Zartech, Wacot, Sayeed Farms, PandagriNovum and Premium Farms as well as the South West, South-South, North West and North Central chapters of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN).

The benefiting companies represent the major players in the poultry value chain in the country.

It will be recalled that the Central Bank of Nigeria had in January this year, announced to release 300,000 metric tonnes of Maize into the Nigerian Maize Market. This is to bridge the shortfall in production and augment local production of the commodity.

The current shortfall in the quantity of maize available in the market, that CBN is working on mitigating, is attributed to activities of banditry, drought in some parts of the country last year, activities of hoarders and middlemen as well as insecurity around the major maize producing belt of Niger, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara and part of Kano states. As part of the CBN’s financing framework, it facilitates the funding of maize farmers and processors through the ABP Commodity Association, Private/Prime Anchors, State Governments, Maize Aggregation Scheme (MAS), and the Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme (CACS).