ABUJA: The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has predicted that based on the success of its agricultural financing, the country would begin the exportation of rice in 2017. The apex bank’s Acting Director, Corporate Communication, Mr. Isaac Okoroafor, disclosed this in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, when he sensitised farmers to how to adopt the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP). According to him, the price of rice has started to fall in Ebonyi and other states to N8, 000.
Okoroafor said by next year, the ABP would have bridged the demand gap of about six million tons of rice annually. He explained that in the pilot project of ABP in Kebbi State, 78,000 registered farmers cultivated an average of one hectare each, which led to its ability to distribute over one million tons of rice. He said Ebonyi State was already producing 1.2million tons of rice annually and other states like Jigawa, Sokoto, Cross River, Anambra and Imo were also increasing their contribution. “The Anchor Borrowers Programme of CBN is not another talk show. It is real financing for the farmers themselves and not political farmers and it has started yielding some fruits.
“The programme was to enable farmers to plant three times a year, which are two dry seasons cropping and one rainy season cropping,” he said. He added that Ebonyi farmers had started the milling and bagging of rice and that Nigerians were already booking their rice for Christmas in Abakiliki. The CBN spokesman said some state governments had started to import rice from these advantaged states. He said: “Our rice is healthier because it is not preserved with anything, unlike other stocks that had been stored in the warehouse for several years.”
Okoroafor urged the people to look beyond oil, adding agriculture was capable of providing for the nation’s food needs. He said the only way the country could protect the local currency was for it to produce and export. The state Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr. Dude Week, said Bayelsa was also working to become a leading producer of fish in the country.
