Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele has disclosed that rice revolution has started in Nigeria.
The CBN governor also said the apex bank
does not have foreign exchange to continue to support importation of
farm produce, including rice, wheat, tomato and poultry products
anymore.
“We in Central bank do not have foreign
exchange to continue to support importation of these items. We need to
be able to grow them since our land is fertile; our climate is good to
support the growth of these products,” Emefile said while inspecting a
CBN supported rice farm under the bank’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme in
Ugboro Bekwarra local government area of Cross Rivers state recently.
Reacting to a publication where it was
said that it would take Nigeria another five years to achieve its target
of self-sufficiency in Rice production, Emefiele said “I’m going to
tell him that he has a bad news,” adding that “my selfish interest is
because, there is no forest and because reserve is down; we need to be
able to grow rice in Nigeria to feed ourselves. Not just rice, Cassava,
Wheat, palm oil and even poultry products.”
According to Emefiele, the CBN has
disbursed about N3 billion to the Cross River state government, which is
meant to support the Anchor Borrowers’ Farmers that are involved in the
programme. He promised that the apex bank is ready to assist more
states and individuals that are ready to participate in its Anchor
Borrowers Borrowers Programme for rice production.
The CBN initiated programme has helped
to establish 50 rice farms of 40kilometres each, with a bi-annual
production capacity of 4-5 tons per hectare in Cross Rivers since
Novembers last year when President Muhammadu Buhari launched the
programme.
Speaking during the national assessment
tour of the farms in the state, special adviser to the CBN Governor on
development finance, Paul Eluhaiwe said 40 integrated rice mills of
about 5-metric tons per hour have been acquired to aid rice milling in
the state. This was as he said, “we have 36 silos of storage capacity
all over the country. We are working on a programme to be able to store
up to 100 metric tons of rice that can last the nation for a minimum of
six months if there is crisis in this country.”
At least, 2,183 farmers are said to have enrolled for the CBN/federal government intervention scheme in the state.
Delighted by the level of progress
recorded in the state in rice farming, Emefiele assured them of the
support of the CBN to make the programme grow bigger in the state.
“Whatever support you need to make this programme grow from this level,
the Central Bank of Nigeria stands ready to give you that support. Yes
we are using our Micro Small and Medium Enterprise facilities to support
these small farmers, we cease this opportunity to encourage large scale
farmers of all farm produce that whatever they do along this line, you
will receive our support,” he stated.
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