BOA |
As
harvesting of the last year dry season anchor rice cultivation officially
launched by President Mohammadu Buhari in Kebbi state is about to start, the
Bank of Agriculture (BOA) the official programme manager through his Managing
Director (MD), Prof. Danbala Danja has thrown its weight behind the Federal
government macro-economic policy of banning importation of rice for the
boosting of local production saying this would make recovery very efficient,
and more fund availability to farmers.
Speaking to
newsmen in his corporate headquarters’ boardroom at Kaduna yesterday, BOA MD,
Prof. Danbala said that the sustainability of the Federal Government (FG) money
injection through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) into Anchor Borrowing
Programme especially rice would hinge on the political power to enforce the macro
economy policy of placing ban on this produce in order to encourage local
production stressed influx would spoil the market for the national producers.
According to
him the success recorded in Kebbi rice was evident as harvest of about 98,000
hectares cultivated by 75,000 farmers with about 14 billion naira already
injected into the programme would soon commence with 73 centres on ground to
ensure 100 percent collection without side selling.
Prof.
Danbala said that availability of more fund through the CBN would give
expansion to the programme as about 300,000 farmers are targeted to produce
more rice paddy for the wet planting season in about thirteen states of the
federation as import substitution saying scientific method of registration was
adopted to ensure proper capturing with the issuance of Bank Verification
Number (BVN) thereby encouraging the states government to embrace giving land
titles to farmers so as to enhance credit accessibility for agricultural
productivity.
Responding
to question of political farmer infiltration of the programme, Prof Danbala
said that the capturing process involved scientific methods of bio metric data,
issuance of Bank Verification Number (BVN) and the use of Global Positioning System
(GPS) adding the role of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) in the
process was very strategic in the entire processing towards achieving holistic
success by member identification.
He also
pointed that the disbursement of N210.000 per hectare of cultivation in the
programme was not outright cash but rather a supply of inputs of seeds, fertilizers
and pesticide with best agronomics trainings for effective and high yielding
practice saying the only money given was for land clearing and labour cost
which was only N49, 000.00 that were paid in tranches with effective monitoring
by BOA staff.
The CBN established
the Anchor Borrowers Programme with a view to collaborating with the anchor
companies involved in rice production and processing to help local farmers
increase local rice production, increase feedstock for processors as well as
reduce importation and conserve Nigeria’s external reserves.
Under the Scheme,
anchor firms were selelcted to serve as off takers taking into cognizance their
track records and experience in working with outgrowers involved in rice
production. The scheme involves a finance model where the anchor firms,
CBN/NIRSAL and state governments will play a role in organizing the out growers
and ensuring that they comply with contracts thereby reducing the incident of
side selling and other stakeholders assisting in eliminating the challenges
faced by rice milling companies in Nigeria.
However, the
BOA boss has confirmed his bank as the managing financial institution of the
CBN anchor borrowers rice programme in Kebbi saying the network branches of the
bank are formidable factors towards
ensuring effective monitoring for success.
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