America’s positive rating of Nigeria’s maize production, another feather to Buhari’s cap – BMO

The positive rating of Nigeria’s maize production which, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), rose astronomically by 16 per cent in 2021, is another positive impact of the various policy initiatives of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration since its assumption of office.

The USDA noted in its report that the country’s maize production climbed to the highest level since independence in 1960, and this is a significant improvement for the country which ‘’has struggled for decades with below-par domestic production of food’’.

Welcoming the development, the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) says that the rise in maize production in Nigeria is traceable to the positive agricultural policies the Buhari administration deployed to improve the productive capacity of Nigeria’s hitherto subsistence farmers.

In a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, the group enthused: “this is the first time in the country’s history that a federal government would think and act progressively in the interest of the poor farmers.

“The federal government had used the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP), maize importation restriction and withholding scarce foreign resources from importers of maize. These have significantly impacted the rise in maize production in the country.

“The proactive halting of government-supplied foreign exchange for the continued importation of maize led to a reduction in imports and rise in domestic production of maize in Nigeria. This has also helped in the country’s food security, especially with the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war which is strangulating food imports in some parts of the world”.

BMO also noted that this exponential increase in the production of maize happened despite the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, “and with the denial of forex to maize importers, the country was able to save scarce foreign exchange which would have been dissipated through uncontrolled importation of maize.

“The policy has also helped to create employment opportunities for more Nigerians, and this has happened in the whole agricultural value chain where the Buhari administration has shown committed and focussed leadership”, the statement added.