The Central Bank of Nigeria CBN says it has trained over 250 extension workers with a reach of over 120,000 farmers in a bid to cascade learnings to farmers in their respective locations.
The CBN Governor Mr Godwin Emefele stated this in Gabarin village in Ringim local government area of Jigawa state.
He said, the aim of the training was to ensure Good Agronomic Practices GAP in the area of capacity building.
According to him, CBN in collaboration with Flour Mills of Nigeria identified, validated and cultivated demonstration farms to holistically showcase the improved protocol for wheat farming in Nigeria and the impact of GAP on high yields to farmers.
Represented by the CBN Controller Dutse Branch, Hajiya Sa’adatu Ibrahim, Godwin Emefele said, the bank has also facilitated and financed a seed multiplication programme that would help to sustain the propagation of the seeds and guarantee the availability of high yielding seeds.
He pointed out that, four seed companies have been commissioned to process 25,000 metric tonnes for the next planting season.
He said this strategy seeks to reduce wheat importation by 60 percent in two years and eliminate wheat importation over the long term.
According to him, in the 2021/2022 planting season, the aim is to reduce the gap by at least 15 percent.
The Governor said, besides the Anchor Borrowers Programme of the bank which has led to a total disbursement of over 975 point 61 billion naira to over 4.52 million smallholder farmers, cultivating 21 agricultural commodities across the country, the bank has other interventions targeted at addressing the financing needs of specific nodes of the agricultural value chain.
He said, the Private Sector led-Accelerated Agriculture Development Scheme provides long term financing options for the development of agricultural land and infrastructure towards increasing the nation’s agricultural land area as well as facilitating all year production through investment in mechanization, irrigation, and technology.
Emefele noted that, Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme provides finance for large scale agro-allied projects that will impact on job creation, enhance capacity utilization, import substitution and accretion to our foreign exchange reserves.
He pointed out that, a total of 735 point 17 billion has been disbursed for 671 projects under CACS.
He added that to ensure access to finance especially for businesses that have the potential to drive economic growth, promote diversification and improve productivity, CBN recently introduced the 100 for 100 Policy on Production and Productivity.
The Governor added that, so far, CBN has disbursed the total sum of 29 point 51 billion to 31 projects with 13 of them in agriculture.
Usman Mohammed Zaria
