In an effort to provide adequate food for Nigerians and crash the price of same, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, have flagged-off sales of nine million tons of subsidized rice paddy to millers.
The CBN also moved to crash the price of maize as it approved the release of 50,000 metric tonnes of maize to 12 major producers, from the Strategic Maize Reserve (SMR) under its Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, while earlier flagging-off the sales of rice paddy and commencement of the wet season farming in Kaduna said, the apex bank was ever ready to finance agriculture.
Represented by the Kaduna branch of CBN, Ahmed Mohammed, he said the programme was aimed at selling rice to the millers and processors at subsidized rate with the intention of reducing the price for the benefit of a common man in Nigeria and beyond.
The CBN Governor said the bank is ever ready to ensure food security and improve rice farming in the country.
According to him, “this programme is a nationwide program with an intention to provide food on a common man’s table, that is why Central Bank is always ready to ensure there is funds for farmers.”
Representative of the Director Development Finance of the CBN, Mr. Chika Nwaja, said that the Bank has the intention to remove the issue of middlemen from the sales of rice to processors for Nigerians to buy at cheaper prices.
“Because the marketers are people of the country, with this, Nigerian citizens must get it at affordable price. There is a reduction between the market price and the price that the CBN is giving out to processors, now we are sailing at N190, 000 against the market price that there is a difference of 35,000 Naira.”
In his speech, the National President of the Rice farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Alhaji Aminu Goronyo, said that all that is taking place at the venue is the CBN that approved it just to move the country forward.
According to him, “despite the security challenges, rice farmers are trying to provide rice to the country.”
Crashing price of maize
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in a bid to also crash the price of maize, has approved the release of 50,000 metric tonnes of maize to 12 major producers, from the strategic maize reserve (SMR) under its Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).
The apex bank said that the release was to enable moderation and price control in the Nigerian market adding that the action, the third of such releases to the companies, was intended to check activities of middlemen that cause hoarding and artificial scarcity.
While confirming the release of the grains, the acting Director, Corporate Communications of CBN, Mr Osita Nwanisobi, was optimistic that the release would crash the prices of maize and reduce pressure on the market.
According to NAN, a statement obtained from the CBN listed recipients of the grains to include Premier Flour Mills, Crown-Olam, Grand Cereals, Animal Care, Amobyn and Hybrid Feeds.
Others are Obasanjo Farms, Zartech, Wacot, Sayeed Farms, Pandagri Novum and Premium Farms.
Nwanisobi said that it would make the product directly available to feed producers, thereby reducing the price of poultry feed in the country.
He said it would also do so through Private/Prime Anchors, State Governments, Maize Aggregation Scheme and the Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme.
Also speaking on the development, Dr Bello Abubakar, National President of the Maize Association of Nigeria, urged middlemen to desist from taking advantage of the supply gap to hike the prices of grains.
He assured that farmers in Nigeria would maintain reasonable pricing of the products.
This happened following the earlier move by the CBN, in collaboration with the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), to crash the price of rice across the country with the distribution of 27,000 metric tonnes of rice paddies directly to millers nationwide.
The move is part of the measures initiated by the apex bank to help address the rising cost of food prices in the Nigerian market.
It will be recalled that in response to the activities of middlemen, the CBN, in January 2021, released 300,000 metric tonnes of maize, which forced a substantial reduction in the price of maize per metric tonne.
