Nigeria spends over $580 million on the importation of cassava by-products annually, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele has revealed.
Speaking at the launch of the Rivers Cassava Processing Company recently in Port-Harcourt, Emefiele noted that the facility will help reduce the country’s reliance on cassava importation and its by-products.
According to the CBN Governor, the facility will also provide farmers with a verifiable platform to access finance from the bank and other financial institutions via the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP).
Emefiele said that “the cassava processing facility helps to support the CBN’s mandate of promoting economic growth for Nigeria,” hinting that it will serve as a pointer for the production of more food items.
“With the capacity to process over 45,000 tonnes of cassava, this facility will provide high-quality cassava flour for households, industries and bakeries.
“The facility will help in reducing our reliance on imports of cassava by-products, which serve as key input in the production of food items in several factories. Nigeria imports over $580 million worth of cassava by-products annually,” he added.
The CBN Governor also revealed that Rivers State had accessed over N13 billion from numerous CBN intervention programmes, and the loan status of the state is still in good standing.
He said, “The sum of N333.2 billion had been disbursed to various projects in the South-South region covering activities in different economic sectors.
“About N7.436 billion had been accessed by four states in the South-South region to open up more land for cultivation, create access roads to agricultural lands, and provide infrastructure, among other support services in the region.
“These measures are helping to induce greater activity in the agricultural sector and are enabling the movement of goods from farm to factories, and the market.”
Emefiele further lauded the Rivers State Government in partnership with Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC), the Dutch Embassy Investment Nigeria Limited and their technical partners, for setting up the integrated facility.
He noted that the CBN remained committed to working with state governments in achieving a boost in the support of smallholder farmers and processors.
The bank, he added, would create an enabling environment that will drive both public and private sectors’ participation in the real sector with strategic deliverables around price stability, job creation, financial inclusion, import substitution and accretion to foreign reserve.
SOURCE: AGRONIGERIA
