CBN, maize farmers inaugurate loan repayment, dry season cultivation in Gombe
A maize farm
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN) have begun a collaboration to aggregate maize under the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) of the Federal Government for the 2021 wet season.
The maize farmers also inaugurated the 2021/2022 dry season farming in Dadin-Kowa community of Yamaltu/Deba Local Council of Gombe State, yesterday.
The team then proceeded to Pindiga community in Akko Local Council of Gombe State where the loan repayment ceremony was launched.
Head, CBN’s Development and Finance Office, Abdullahi Baba-Isa, said the Federal Government’s intervention in maize farming had yielded impressive results.
Baba-Isa stated that CBN’s intervention was to harness Nigeria’s potential in the agriculture sector, conserve foreign exchange, boost food availability and reduce unemployment among youths while discouraging food importation.
He stated that in Gombe, over 4,000 hectares were cultivated under the ABP for wet season farming and, “we expect about six or seven bags per hectare.”
The apex bank’s official said he was impressed with the rate of recovery in Pindiga cluster, as 600 out of the 720 expected bags had been recovered.
Baba-Isa, therefore, urged other farmers to emulate the Pindiga gesture.
Earlier, during the team’s visit to Dadin-Kowa community for the inauguration of the 2021/2022 dry season farming, the president of MAAN, Dr. Bello Abubakar, commended the Federal Government.
Abubakar said the event was proof of the Federal Government’s investment in the agriculture sector and towards promoting all-year-round farming to boost food security in the country.
According to him, over 2,000 maize farmers are benefitting from the CBN Anchor Borrowers Programme in Gombe State.
He said with the intervention of CBN in the agriculture sector from 2015, maize production had recorded a boost in the country.
“As at 2015, our yearly maize production was eight million tonnes but in 2020, we recorded 20 million tonnes. That’s an increase of 12 million tonnes. This is impressive as far as MAAN is concerned,” he said.
According to the MAAN president, Nigeria is now maize-sufficient with the intervention of the Federal Government.
“This is why during the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, from 2019 to 2020, when the world shut their borders, we were able to feed ourselves,” said Abubakar.
