Buhari endorses new rice policy as CBN unfolds N40bn support

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s conscious policy to encourage domestic production in the economy received emphatic endorsement from President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday, in Kebbi State, when he launched the CBN’s N40bn Anchor Borrowers Programme.

The programme is itself aimed at increasing local production of rice and wheat, and the president in endorsing the programme said Nigeria can no longer sustain about N1 trillion annual spending on food imports, adding that he was committed to refocusing the country’s energy to agriculture to create jobs and boost the economy.

In time past, agriculture had been the mainstay of Africa’s largest economy, but was abandoned in the advent of oil boom, but the President affirmed that the current trend at the international oil market has strengthened the need for diversification.

Buhari who was speaking at the launch of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme and the commencement of the dry season farming, said the country could no longer afford to spend huge amounts of money importing food that could be locally produced.

“The importance of agriculture in the economy cannot be over emphasised. Prior to the advent of oil, our country survived on agriculture production.

“During this period, the economy of our sub region was built on agricultural activities and our gross domestic product grew steady,” said Buhari.

According to him, the discovery of oil was expected to compliment the nation’s agriculture productivity but was almost allowed to completely replace it.

He raised concerns that the current trend in the international oil market has raised the urgent need to diversify both the productive and revenue base of our economy and to conserve foreign reserves by limiting appetite for importation of goods that the country can easily produce locally.

“Economic diversification is no longer an option for us. It is the only way to economic momentum and the drive to prosperity,” he added.

The President said he has high hopes that the CBN anchor borrowers’ programme, will create millions of jobs for the teeming unemployed Nigerian youth, as well as lift thousands out of poverty.

Earlier, Audu Ogbe, the minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, commended his predecessor, Akinwunmi Adesina, for innovation introduced to the nation’s agricultural system, promising to sustain them.

Ogbe however noted that despite the good intention of Adesina, corruption still crept into agriculture under him. “People supplied sharp sand as fertiliser, while fake seeds were sold to farmers. There were companies with no traceable address,” he said, adding that many farmers lost their monies because of this.

“No room for quacks anymore. Under this administration, that will  never happen again. No room for quacks anymore. Security agencies will now be used to check fraudsters. We will no longer allow the elite to play pranks on our farmers” he added.

Also speaking, the CBN governor , Godwin Emefiele said the apex bank was concerned about the high forex spent on importation of food items that could be locally produced, adding that this had informed the setting aside of N40billion from the N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund for farmers at single-digit interest rate of 9.0 per cent.

According to him, agricultural commodities and food import bill had averaged over N1trillion in the past two years.

He said: “Food products like wheat, sugar, milk, rice and fish accounted for N901 billion or 93.5 per cent and N788 billion or 88.71 per cent of this total in 2013 and 2014 respectively.”

Emefiele put the import bill of rice and wheat at N428 billion and N307 billion in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

He noted that the allocation of foreign exchange to the importation of these items had continually depleted the nation’s foreign reserve, which he said had been on a steady decline in recent times. Agriculture, he said remained an important sector in the economy, despite the neglect it had suffered.

Governors of Sokoto, Cross River, Plateau, Zamfara and Niger states attended the event, while Kaduna and Katsina were represented by their deputy governors.

Elizabeth Archibong