Emefiele: CBN has revamped agriculture to cope with rising food prices

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says the apex bank has revamped agriculture to cope with the rising food prices and reduce unemployment.

Emefiele made this known to journalists over the weekend during an inspection tour of a palm plantation at Odighi Village in Ovia North East LGA in Edo.

He added that the agricultural sector contributed so much in boosting Nigeria’s economy.

The CBN governor added that the apex bank had assumed a pivotal role in agriculture since 2015 when President Muhammadu Buhari directed that “we produce what we eat and eat what we produce”.

“I wonder how the country could have coped with the rising prices of food and commodity items across the world without the foresight to revamp agriculture,” he said.

“The apex bank had come up with several initiatives aimed towards repositioning the sector to create employment opportunities as well as grow the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).”

Also, during the assessment of the farm, Emefiele attested to the giant strides already being recorded in the production of maize and cassava and expressed optimism that in the next 12 months, palm produce harvests would have commenced.

He, however, acknowledged the significant role played by the Edo state government. 

He commended Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo, for matching words with action by making sure that arable land was made available to those genuinely interested in agriculture.

The apex bank governor appealed to other state governors to emulate Edo state, which had so far made available about 70 percent of the promised arable land.

Emefiele also commended the efforts of the promoting company, Agri-allied Resources and Processing Limited and its parent company, Tolaram Limited, for heeding the clarion by the CBN to source their critical raw materials locally.