Local rice production has increased from about 30 per cent to 70 per cent, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said.

The Head of Development Finance Department, Mr. Chukwudum Nzelu, attributed the feat to the Anchor Borrowers Programme introduced by the bank.

“Factories that were operating at 30 per cent are now operating at 70 per cent production capacity after the experiment. With this increase in production level, we have created jobs. That is why between 2016 and 2017, we have a lot of local rice in the market. Many local factories that were dormant have become active again,” he said.

Nzelu spoke at the weekend in Calabar, Cross River State during a CBN fair on financial literacy and the workings of banks. He noted that import expenditure on rice was so huge that if produced locally, the country would have created jobs through a new generation of farmers, distributors, transporters and marketers for rice alone.

“So we did an experiment with rice through what we call the anchor borrowers programme, where a rice miller comes as an off taker for small holder farmers who will produce for him and then he takes from them and mills”.
Nzelu said the CBN was also intervening in an accelerated agricultural development scheme which is targeting a minimum of 10, 000 youths between the ages of 18 and 35 from each state and Abuja.

“If we are able to take 10, 000 unemployed people out of the labour market, you can imagine what would have been achieved when you multiply that by 36 states and Abuja.”

According to him, the key mandate of the CBN is ensuring price and financial system stability, but the apex bank is also required to intervene in other sectors to develop the economy. “If the country continues to import what can be produced locally, it means it is denying the people the jobs that we should have created.”

The CBN Branch Controller for Cross River, Dr. Graham Kalio, charged participants to make the best use of the fair by putting whatever they learn into practice.

Participants expressed excitement at the training and promised to put into practice the knowledge acquired.
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