….CBN says intervention In Agric Sector Has Reduced Rice Importation

19 Jan ….CBN says intervention In Agric Sector Has Reduced Rice Importation

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said at the event that its intervention in the agricultural sector in Nigeria has massively reduced the importation of rice into the country from Thailand.

The apex bank explained that in 2014 Thailand exported 1.3 million metric tonnes of rice to Nigeria, compared to just 58,000 metric tonnes at the end of 2021.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this in his opening remarks on Tuesday while unveiling the FCT mega rice pyramids under the RIFAN-CBN Anchor Borrowers’ Programme.

Emefiele said the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) was started in November 2015 to provide aid to farmers and influence the value chain of various commodities in Nigeria. The CBN has carried out interventions aimed at sustaining recovery of output growth and addressing the downside risks to other external and domestic shocks to the economy.

He noted that ABP has also catalysed the rural economy and has built a sustainable framework for financing smallholder farmers in Nigeria.

According to him, “the Programme has developed an ecosystem among all nodes of the agricultural value chain and these linkages can be better optimised through synergy among all stakeholders.”

“We are delighted that these efforts have yielded fruits in not just increasing the availability of rice, but also in moderating prices, reducing imports and increasing job creation in the country. For example, Thailand alone exported 1.3 million metric tonnes of rice to Nigeria in 2014.”

The apex bank showed the trend of a reduction of import dependency on staple goods as it uses Thailand as a formidable example.

The CBN Governor also identified that Output Productivity per hectare has improved within 6 years.