TheCable

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says Nigeria will attain self-sufficiency in maize production by next year.

He said this during the unveiling of the first maize pyramid and flag off of the 2021 maize wet season farming in Katsina on Thursday.

Emefiele said Nigeria has witnessed a remarkable increase in maize production during the past six years with the support of the anchor borrowers’ programme.

He said the CBN and the Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN) seek to increase the target from 250,000 hectares in 2020 to 500,000 hectares in 2021.

Emefiele explained that to achieve this, CBN will 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).

“This event symbolises our commitment towards enabling self sufficiency in maize production by 2022 in Nigeria,” he said.

“The 2018 wet season witnessed remarkable increase in the number of beneficiaries, as about 67,181 farmers were empowered to cultivate 110, 832 hectares across 36 states.

“In 2019, it was 100,000 hectares, and that of 2020 was 250,000 hectares cultivated, but we hope to increase the target in 2021 to 500,000 hectares.”

Emefiele also reiterated CBN’s opposition on the importation of maize into Nigeria, adding that the bank would resist attempts by those who seek to continually import maize into the country.

In July 2020, CBN had directed banks to stop processing Forms M for the importation of maize with immediate effect, explaining that it is an effort to increase local production, stimulate a rapid economic recovery, safeguard rural livelihoods.

Defending the ban, Emefiele said maize farmers in Nigeria has 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.”

Emefiele further urged youths interested in agriculture to leverage their talents, along with technological tools to improve farm productivity and delivery of agricultural produce to markets.

In his remarks, Bello Masari, governor of Katsina, said the state had suffered a setback in agriculture as over 60,000 hectares of farmlands were uncultivated due to insurgency, which hindered farmers from gaining access to their means of livelihood.