With the unveiling of 13 rice pyramids (one million bags of rice) President Mohammadu Buhari today, the country is no doubt on a path is to self-sufficiency in food production.
Investors King gathered that the president, today, unveiled the FCT Mega Rice Pyramids in Abuja.
The rice pyramid, considered to be the biggest of its type in Africa, is located on the grounds of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) on Airport Road.
The one million rice paddy which was stacked in 15 separate pyramids at the ACCI is in collaboration of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) with the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), planted and harvested from states across the country under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP). Farmers were asked to return the bags of rice paddy that made up the pyramids in exchange for cash in order to repay the loans they received under the ABP.
Investors King recalls that the CBN’s ABP which started in November 2015 had the goal of providing aid to farmers and influencing the value chain of various commodities in Nigeria. The CBN, in 2019, revealed that it disbursed the sum of N791 billion to more than 3 million farmers across the 36 states of the Federation, under the ABP as part of its efforts towards diversifying the economy and assisting farmers with the provision of farm inputs and cash to smallholder farmers.
The president, who commissioned the pyramid, disclosed that the ABP is expected to catalyse the agricultural productive base of the nation, which is a major part of the government’s economic plan to uplift the economy, create jobs, reduce reliance on imported food and industrial raw materials, and conserve foreign exchange.
According to the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, the CBN, in collaboration with the rice farmers have significantly improved the productivity per hectare of the smallholder farmer from about 2.4 metric tonnes per hectares in 2015 to between about 5 metric tonnes per hectares in 2021.
The RIFAN has over 12.2 million members across the 36 states of the country who are involved in rice farming, milling, storage and management, trading and marketing, export, research and training and allied businesses.
