Godwin Emefiele has disclosed that the government had saved $800 million by reducing the importation of five major food items, namely rice, wheat, sugar, tomatoes, and milk.
The CBN governor gave these figures while speaking at a special town hall meeting on government’s agriculture intervention organized by the Ministry of Information and Culture in conjunction with the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in Jigawa State.
Emefiele who was represented by his special adviser, Mr Olatunde Akande, explained that $1.4 billion was spent on the importation of the five commodities by 2013, and $678.6million was spent at the end of 2017.
While comparing statistics and the impact of agriculture revolution in the country along the five major commodities of sugar, milk, rice, tomatoes and wheat between 2013 and 2017, the CBN governor noted that at the end of 2017, the rate of food importation had reduced by almost 60 percent in terms of the value of food import into Nigeria for these five commodities.
According to Emefiele, the CBN is supporting the rice paddy programme, a food security programme for large enterprises.
He said:
“What we have done is that we have looked at five key commodities – sugar, milk, rice, tomatoes and wheat. In 2013, the country spent $1.4 billion to import these commodities into the country.
“As at the end of 2017, that figure had reduced by almost 60 percent the value of food import into Nigeria for these five commodities. At the end of 2017, we only spent $678.6 coming from $1.4 billion. In the past four years, CBN has been so supportive of the government, especially in the agricultural revolution of the government.
“The flagship, of course, is the Anchor Borrower Programme which was launched in November 17, 2015 by Mr. President, and since then, the CBN has supported over 850,000 small rural farmers. The CBN has disbursed over N160 billion under the Anchor Borrower Programme.
“Why the programme is very popular is because the target is small, rural farmers. There are lots of other programmes the CBN has done targeting large scale commercial farmers, small sale commercial farmers and other enterprises, but this is specifically for small rural farmers”.
The CBN boss explained that the Anchor Borrower Programme was not specifically meant for rice farmers; however, 80 percent of subscribers are into rice farming.
According to him, the programme has so far supported 15 different commodities like cassava, fish, groundnut, cotton, maize, poultry, soybeans, oil palm, among others.
Emefiele explained further that another project supported by the CBN was the presidential fertilizer programme.
This, he said, explains the fall in the price of fertilizer, which is now N5, 500 per bag.
Also speaking at the town hall meeting, the minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, noted that Nigerians should not expect support from outside the country in the quest to be food sufficient.
The minister, who said the government faced stiff resistance from foreign countries, explained that there was a conspiracy by some foreign countries and their local agents to thwart Nigeria’s push for self-sufficiency.
He also urged Nigerians to eschew the temptation of believing fake news of increased food importation, saying it is untrue that the country imported 400,000 metric tonnes more than the quantity of rice imported in 2017.
According to him, the country has experienced rapid growth in rice production over the last three years.
While explaining the conspiracy against federal government’s drive to achieve self-sufficiency in food production, Mohammed said every nation pursues its national interest and it is not in those countries interest for Nigeria to be self-sufficient.
He continued;
“Please permit me to alert Nigerians to the reality out there; in pursuing our agricultural revolution, which will ultimately lead to self-sufficiency in the national staples, we should not expect accolades and support from outside, especially from countries that had, hitherto, been the main exporters of food items such as rice to Nigeria.
“Every nation pursues its national interest, and it is definitely not in their interest for Nigeria to produce what it consumes, because it means you will no longer import from such countries.
“It is in that context that Nigerians should see the recent fake news that Nigeria imported 400,000 metric tonnes more than the quantity of rice imported in 2017. The report, quoting the 2018 United States Department of Agriculture World Markets and Trade Report, also posited that Nigeria’s local rice production is dropping.
“When the figures were challenged, they said it was based on the assumptions – unrealistic as they were – such as satellite mapping of farms, expected demand by politicians for election campaigns and expected losses from flooding.”
Quoting the Central Bank of Nigeria, the minister stressed that the volume of rice importation into Nigeria has declined drastically this year.
The decline, he explained, was as a result of concerted efforts by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the interventions of the CBN.
Corroborating Mohammed’s position, the minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, disclosed that foreigners who held Nigeria hostage for 30 years were poised to demoralize the government from making efforts in reducing the importation of food items.
Ogbeh, however, said the government was determined to stop the importation of food items and commence exportation for industrial use.
He hinted that with the reform of the Bank of Agriculture, which will be completed by the end of this year, the government is targeting 5 percent lending rate to farmers.
He noted that the reduction of interest rate on lending to farmers to 9 percent ignited a revolution in agriculture in the country, pointing out that the revolution in agriculture by the present administration has now turned Nigeria into an exporter of agricultural products.
“In July this year, the Tin Can Island published a report that agricultural export had risen by 150%. Containers leaving Nigeria are no longer going empty,” he said.
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