400 metric tonnes of rice per cropping season achievable in Ebonyi – Emefiele

Godwin Emefiele, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has expressed optimism that the pledge of the Ebonyi State government to produce 400 metric tonnes of rice per cropping season, amounting to almost a million metric tonnes a year can be actualized with support from the CBN and the Federal Government.

Emefiele made the disclosure at the weekend during an inspection tour by the Presidential Task Force on rice and wheat production to several farms in Ebonyi State.

He said with the support and commitment of the Ministry of Agriculture, machines will be available to farmers for harvest in the coming year, assuring the farmers that challenges such as irrigation and funding will be addressed.

This is even as Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture commended the CBN Governor for his “revolutionary economic management strategy” which according to him, has etched Emefiele’s name in the annals of Nigeria’s economic management history as revolutionary with the rice revolution he started across the country.

Ogbeh passed the vote of confidence on Emefiele, in company of Dave Umahi and Abubakar Bagudu Ebonyi and Kebbi States Governors respectively.

The Minister noted that the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) on rice and wheat remains a great achievement Godwin Emefiele adding that there had been tremendous pressure on the government to import rice in order to meet the demand for the commodity, which was an indication that those mounting such pressure never believed that the ABP was working.

Ogbeh said that it does not make any economic sense to continue to spend scarce foreign exchange resources on rice importation, when the country has huge potential to grow rice in commercial quantity, noting that each ship load of rice imported into the country displaces 12, 000 farmers from employment.

Concurring with the Minister,  Emefiele added that with the dwindling foreign reserve, the country could not continue to import rice, hence President Buhari’s directive to focus on Agriculture especially rice production.

Emefiele firther commended the Ebonyi State Government for responding to the President’s call despite the lack of fund from the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, the State Government had used its money to improve production.

He however reassured that with the dry season farming about to start, farmers in Ebonyi will access the ABP facility.

Dave Umahi, Ebonyi State Governor, while commending the CBN Governor added that “events like the global recession is not only peculiar to Nigeria and you have done well to manage the state of the nation’s economy” adding that it is people who want to pull Nigeria down that are criticizing the CBN.

Umahi said the country made a mistake in the past for not investing in infrastructure to drive Agriculture and that it behoves on the present administration to develop agriculture and Infrastructure. Adding that the State needs assistance to be able to cultivate rice in all season farming.

In his remarks, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, Kebbi State Governor said the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) which is designed to help Nigerian farmers and processors develop agriculture and its value chain in the last one year has recorded lots of successes adding that what is on ground in terms of rice output suggests that the goal of self-sufficiency that was targeted for 2017 have already been achieved.