The Central Bank of Nigeria will disburse N41bn through Heritage Bank Plc to farmers across different states for the expansion of wheat production to meet high demand amid poor production capacity,a statement from the bank saud
It said the fund would consummate the expansion of Wheat Seed Multiplication Project, as part of the CBN’s Brown Revolution Initiative, an intervention programme to flag off and support the commencement of dry season wheat farming across Nigeria.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, explained that the move was part of the apex bank’s intervention to address the challenges in wheat value chain, thereby increasing the domestic production of wheat and closing the wide supply gap inherited in Nigeria agricultural space.
According to him, following the successes in the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, the apex bank decided to extend the gains recorded in rice and maize value chains to wheat production.
He said the programme would benefit over 150,000 farmers, and would be implemented in 15 states on about 180,000 hectares of land.
He added: “Wheat is the third most widely consumed grain in Nigeria after maize and rice. It is estimated that the country only produces about one per cent (63,000 metric tons) of the 5-6 million metric tons of the commodity consumed annually in Nigeria.
“This enormous demand-supply gap is bridged with over $2bn spent annually on wheat importation. This has made wheat the second highest contributor to the country’s food import bill.”
Speaking,the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Heritage Bank, Ifie Sekibo, said the Brown Revolution Initiative would help reduce the nation’s food import bill by increasing wheat production.
He said it would create market linkages between smallholder farmers and anchors/processors, create an ecosystem that drives value chain financing, improve access to credit by the smallholder farmers by developing credit history through the scheme.
