The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has said that the Anchor Borrowers Programme has achieved its desired objective aimed at curtailing food import and enhancing self Sufficiency in maize production.
He states this in Kaduna just as the federal government made public the second maize pyramid made possible through the efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria in conjunction with Maize Association of Nigeria Anchor Borrowers programme
According to him, Nigeria is the 13th largest producer of maize in the world, and the 2nd in the African Continent after South Africa. The annual consumption of maize stood at 12.38 million metric tonnes as at 2021, with 60 percent of it being consumed by the industrial sector, but despite being the second producer of maize in sub-Saharan Africa, there is still a supply and demand gap of over four metric tonnes of the product.
The unveiling of the maize pyramid comes months after President Buhari unveiled bags of rice paddy numbering one million stacked as pyramids in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
The bags of rice were planted and harvested from states across the country also under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) and in collaboration with the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN).
