Abubakar Kyari, minister of Agriculture and Food Security, on Monday said the naira re-design policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) made farmers bankrupt.
The Federal Government has hence attributed the financial distress of farmers to the redesign policy implemented during the previous administration.
In October 2022, the CBN introduced the naira redesign policy to replace old N200, N500, and N1000 notes with new versions.
Kyari said, “The cash crunch caused by the naira redesign made most of the farmers sell their farm produce at giveaway prices for survival since buyers couldn’t access cash to buy the produce from them.
“The policy, which coincided with the harvest season, ended up rendering the farmers empty financially.”
The naira redesign policy was poorly managed by the apex bank and it led to cash shortages which impacted businesses negatively, especially agribusinesses owing to the short shelf life of fresh produce.
As commercial banks apportioned the limited banknotes at their disposal in the first quarter of the year, farmers lamented gluts of different kinds as the period was characterised by buying cash at premium prices from POS operators, and retail consumers stuck to buying only necessities.
“The cash crunch coincided with poor network systems across banks and service providers. Sometimes we’d go to buy things for our business and be there for minutes without end, trying to make payment,” said Emmanuel Futughe, poultry manager, Tabai Farms, Abuja.
Farmers in different parts of the country were reported to have been in severe agony, whilst the cash shortages persisted, as they continued to count losses over the inability of off-takers and buyers to mobilise enough cash to buy from them.
This caused the sector’s agricultural growth to contract by 0.90 percent in the first quarter of 2023, the first contraction under the Buhari administration, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
