Why CBN is revolutionalising maize production in Nigeria
Maize is a key staple food in Nigeria. It is widely consumed by families and communities.
This crop contributes hugely to the food security position of Nigeria, especially in the northern part of the country where it is widely eaten with soup at dinner tables.
It is instructive to note that this crop is also heavily used for industrial purposes and especially in the feed industry. Poultry for instance uses maize as a significant part of the composition. It is also used for goat feed, sheep, cattle and more.
The icing on the cake is, this crop can be grown in all parts of the country with significant success.
However, in spite of the huge importance of this crop to the Nigerian economy and the relatively easy and cheap means of cultivating it, Nigeria hasn’t still grown the capacity to be self-sufficient in maize production.
Thus once there is rise in the maize process internationally, the cost of feeds in Nigeria rises astronomically. The latest example was the high cost of feed, especially for poultry, experienced in late 2020.
Irritated by this development, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduced a deliberate policy to ensure Nigeria is self-sufficient in maize production. The CBN has even gone ahead to midwife the first maize pyramid in Nigeria in Katsina State. With this, the CBN expects to close the 4.5 million metric tonnes in the country.
At the event in Katsina, the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele enjoined the youths to embrace agriculture even as it vows to resist importation of maize in Nigeria.
He urged youths in Nigeria to embrace agriculture, declaring the Bank’s readiness to support youths that are willing to engage in agriculture. This is even as the Governor reiterated the Bank’s opposition to the importation of maize into Nigeria.
At the May 6, 2021, maize pyramid that was the unveiling of the first maize pyramid and flag-off of the 2021 Maize wet season farming under the CBN-Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN) Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, Mr. Emefiele expressed belief that Nigerian youth could leverage their talents, along with technological tools to improve farm productivity and delivery of agricultural produce to markets.
While noting that agriculture offered significant benefits for the youth, Emefiele reiterated that the Bank had put in place several measures to improve access to credit for youths interested in Agriculture under the Anchor Borrowers Programme and the Agri Business Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS).
According to him, groups of youth with contiguous land for farming are eligible to seek the Bank’s support through the CBN prime anchor arrangement.
“The CBN will not only provide access to credit for these youths but will also provide guarantees that their produce will be purchased by a prime anchor at agreed prices,” the Governor assured.
Meanwhile, Mr. Emefiele said the CBN would resist attempts by those who seek to continually import maize into the country, noting that maize farmers in Nigeria had what it takes to close the maize demand gap of over 4.5 million metric tonnes in the country.
“With over 50,000 bags of maize available on this ground, and others aggregated across the country, maize farmers are sending a resounding message that “we can grow enough maize to meet the country’s demand,” he declared.
Speaking further, Mr. Emefiele explained that the maize unveiled at the ceremony would be sold to reputable feed processors, adding that this would in turn impact positively on current poultry feed prices, as over 60% of maize produced in the country are used for producing poultry feed.
Justifying the Bank’s continued strategic intervention in the value chains of focal crops, he said the CBN was leading the revolution, because the impact of our monetary policy measures would be limited, if the monetary authority in collaboration with the fiscal authorities failed to address some of the structural constraints that limit productivity in key sectors of our economy such as agriculture. Specifically, he said the Bank’s intervention was in line with its mandate and aims at ensuring price stability as well as improved availability of staple food items.
He disclosed that the Bank and MAAN sought to increase the target hectarage for 2021 to 500,000 ha from the 2020 target of 250,000 ha, adding that to achieve the target, the Bank sought to introduce the use of contiguous land, high yielding seeds, mechanization, leveraging technology for land mapping and monitoring as well as expanding the Strategic Maize Reserve (SMR). So far, he said the Bank had released 100,000 metric tonnes of maize to the market, through the major producers.
Emefiele therefore urged all stakeholders to sustain the current efforts to galvanize agricultural production to meet the requirements of Nigeria’s growing population, stressing that the nation could not continue to dwell on the neglect of past years if it was determined to realize the national target of producing what Nigerians eat and eating what is produced in Nigeria.
Also speaking, the Katsina State Governor, Rt. Hon. Bello Masari, said that the state had suffered a setback in agriculture as over sixty thousand hectares of farmlands were uncultivated due to insurgency, which hindered farmers from gaining access to their means of livelihood.
The Governor of Kebbi state Senator Atiku Abubakar Bagudu who represented President Muhammadu Buhari while unveiling the pyramids, reassured the farmers, processors and other value chain participants, of the support of the government towards ensuring that they perform optimally. Hence, he said availability of inputs like high yield seedlings and fertilizers were being made available to farmers adequately in addition to prompt off-taking of produce.
He further assured the people of the area that the government was taking the security challenge with all seriousness and had resolved to stem it. He therefore commended the resilience of farmers for the quantity of maize produced amidst the insecurity.
In his remarks, Governor Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa state recalled with nostalgia that the historical groundnut pyramids he read about in history books were today being seen physically in rice and maize across the country through the help of the Central Bank of Nigeria. He also encouraged youths to take to agriculture for wealth creation by embracing the schemes put in place by the Bank.
Speaking at the event, the Emir of Katsina, AbdulMumin Kabir, bemoaned the security situation in the area and therefore pleaded for serious interventions in order to encourage farming activities and sustain the success recorded so far.
Commending the CBN for injecting N50billion into the Commodity Exchange initiative, the President, Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN), Bello Abubakar, said MAAN had recorded about 80% loan recovery rate since the association began to participate in the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme in 2017. He nevertheless urged farmers to repay their loans to enable others to also benefit from the scheme.
The Nigeria Young Farmers Network (NYFN) has also expressed readiness to grow maize in commercial quantities with the right enabling environment.
They also said they are in full support of forex restrictions on maize imports.
“We want to categorically state and clarify that the Nigeria Young Farmers Network is totally against full or partial importation of crops into the country. The worst thing to do is to dampen our efforts in mobilizing young people to engage in the agricultural sector especially in view of the rapidly dwindling economy” they stated.
They noted that the youth apathy towards agriculture is a major challenge we are working hard to reverse and anything short of full support to achieve that will be counterproductive for us as a nation.
The Nigeria Young Farmers Network is a non-political, nongovernmental organization duly registered with the relevant authorities, with the core objective of accelerating youth development through agriculture.
Their mission is to connect young people to cross-cutting opportunities in the Agribusiness sector in collaboration with the government and private sector.