By Muhammed Abubakar, Reporting
It appears good old times when Northern Nigeria was famous for rice pyramids are back as President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday, unveiled a 1.2 million-bag paddy rice pyramid in Abuja.
President Buhari, who was visibly elated, commended the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, for initiating the Anchor Borrowers Programme, through which the massive rice production was achieved.
The president in his address said that his food security agenda would drive down prices of food items in the country.
According to him, from a national paddy rice production of about 4.5 tons per annum before the ABP initiative in 2015, paddy rice production rose to over nine million tons by 2021.
Governor of CBN, in his remarks, said that as of the end of December 2021, his team had financed 4.5 million farmers that cultivated 5.3 million hectares across 21 commodities through 23 Participating Financial Institutions in the 36 states of the Federation and FCT.
He said Thailand alone exported 1.3 million metric tons of rice to Nigeria in 2014.
Mr. Emefiele noted, however, that the CBN introduced the ABP in 2015 to curtail food importation and that since then, Nigeria has witnessed incremental reductions in rice imports from Thailand.
Governor of Ekiti State and Chairman of the Governors Forum, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, said that the next agenda of the administration’s food security programme would be to ensure affordability of food items.
In his own remark, Governor of Kebbi State, Alh. Atiku Bagudu, said that rice production has significantly improved to such a level that a farmer could now earn N400, 000 per hectare, adding that Nigerian rice farmers have become richer than ever before.
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