Massive Hunger To Disappear, As Buhari Makes Most Brilliant Move

Amidst the massive hunger, occasioned by the hike in inflation, President Muhammadu Buhari, through the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of Agriculture, Professor Danbala Danju, has disclosed plans to flood Nigerian markets with rice, in order to crash the price.

Post-Nigeria gathered, that the development is coming at a time when a bag of rice, formerly a common staple food for Nigerians during the former President, Goodluck Jonathan administration, had risen from N8,200 per bag, to as high as N18,000 to N20,000, depending on the brand.

According to Danju, who made this known to Punch Newspaper, the Anchor Rice Borrower Programme, launched by President Buhari months back, is already yielding fruits, as it is aimed at boosting the domestic production of rice.

He noted that for decades, Nigeria has ‎been importing rice, and because of the foreign exchange and the focus of the new administration to try to convince Nigerians to go into farming, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and the Bank of Agriculture, came up with the Anchor Rice Borrower Programme.

Launched in Kebbi State, with the Bank of Agriculture having more than 137 branches across the 36 States of the federation, the programme according to him, has successfully boosted the domestic production of rice locally, as it is turning out large chunk of paddy rice across the country.

Danju however, noted that in a matter of time, Nigerians will soon begin to feel the impact, as the commodity will be flooded in every market, thereby automatically crashing the price.

Kebbi State for instance, makes up to 75 percent of rice farmers, with about 98,000 hectares of land made available for cultivation.

He said, “We targeted to have more than 300,000 metric tons of rice being produced over the dry season period.

“And because of the success of the pilot scheme in Kebbi, the Federal Government has directed that we work closely with the Central Bank of Nigeria, to target about 13 States in the programme, as well as in wheat production, tomatoes and other staple crops.
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“Presently, the focus is on rice to help achieve the current objective of self-sufficiency in domestic rice production in about one to two years, which President Muhammadu Buhari has promised the country.

“The Bank of Agriculture is the main implementing agency.

“We have our workers, who are being spread all over the country, particularly in the 13 States of the federation.

“Under the programme, we are largely targeting the smallholder farmers.

“Like I have said, there is a rigorous identification system, which requires farmers to register with our branches, and they need to have BVN, before they can be given inputs in terms of seeds, fertilizers, as well as working capital.

“So far, it has been quite successful, and that is why we are trying to replicate it in other parts of the country.

“We are targeting different heritage farmers to achieve domestic sufficiency in rice and other crops”, he stated.

He added: “In a couple of weeks, we are targeting about 300,000 farmers that would be supported under the programme to produce paddy.

“We are entering into some agreements with off-takers, largely private sector millers, and in some cases, State governments”, Danju said.
On the challenges presently felt, he said, “We need high yielding seed varieties of rice, and we also need to provide the irrigation, transport infrastructure, and the capacity of existing rice mills, need to be expanded and new ones established.

“If we are able to implement all these measures, I think not only will we be able to achieve domestic self-sufficiency, but we will also be able to export to other countries in less than two years,” the MD/CEO of the Bank of Agriculture concluded. - POST NIGERIA