CBN governor tasks ivory towers on agric productivity

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, yesterday challenged the university community to rise to the occasion and develop breakthrough solutions, especially in seeds production to improve agricultural yields.

He said the CBN would on its part, provide a commercial outlook to research breakthroughs on improved seeds by ensuring a guaranteed market by encouraging farmers to adopt those seeds under the Anchor Borrower Programme (ABP).

Emefiele, while delivering the guest lecture, titled, ‘Jump-Starting the Agricultural Revolution: the CBN Experience’, at the combined convocation of the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, noted that the seed industry was the investment of a multi-billion dollar, offering a low hanging fruit in a potential collaborative effort between the CBN and the university community.

He also stated that N608.36 billion had been disbursed to 3,038,899 farmers that cultivated 3,776,228 hectares along 21 commodities through 23 Participating Financial Institutions in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Represented by the CBN Director, Development Finance Department, Mr Yusuf Yila, the apex bank boss, added that it is prepared to partner with the universities in achieving revolutionary innovations to reposition agriculture.

He pointed out that on assumption as CBN governor in 2014, “I stated that my vision would be to ensure that the Central Bank of Nigeria is more people-focused, as its policies and programmes would be geared towards supporting job creation, and deepening our intervention program in the agricultural sector”.

Emefiele explained that this would help to foster greater inclusive growth as well as address key macroeconomic concerns including exchange rate stability, financial system stability and maintaining a strong external reserve.

He added that with close to 36 per cent of Nigerians employed in the agricultural sector, the emphasis on supporting greater growth of the sector became vital given the role it could play in supporting employment generation, wealth creation, and in providing domestic sources of staple food items and raw materials for households and businesses.

Emefiele said: “In the 60’s and the early 70’s, the agricultural sector was the backbone of the Nigerian economy. Our production of cocoa, palm oil and groundnuts amongst other commodities supported the revenue needs of the government in addition to generating sufficient export revenues for the country.

“In addition, Nigeria held a dominant share in the exports of these commodities globally. Proceeds from the sale of these products were used to build bridges, roads and educational institutions in key parts of the country. More importantly, it fostered inclusive growth by creating jobs across the agricultural value chain.”

However, he pointed out that, “The eventual discovery of crude oil along with increased exports of crude oil, led to significant underinvestment in the agricultural sector and an erosion of jobs in the real sector of our economy.

“As a result, products such as palm oil, which could have been produced in Nigeria were now being imported into the country with the improved inflows of petrodollars. Our reliance on crude oil earnings for close to over 80 per cent of our foreign exchange earnings not only led to significant loss of jobs in the agricultural sector, but it also subjected our nation to strong economic volatility driven by factors that are exogenous to the Nigerian economy.

“One critical example which I can share is between 2012 – 2015, US production of shale oil rose from less than 1 million barrels per day to over 5 million barrels per day.

“This rise in a production led to a dramatic fall in global crude oil prices between 2015-2016 and a corresponding decline in Nigeria’s government revenue as well as our foreign exchange earnings.

He said: “At one point in 2016, our monthly foreign exchange earnings dropped from over $3 billion a month to close to $500 million a month.

“We are all aware of how Israel which a desert area was formerly, was turned into a lush green fertile area after researchers discovered how to channel drops of water to the roots of plants through drip irrigation.

“We would like to see how the university community and indeed the graduating students can leverage their knowledge and research to come up with similar breakthrough solutions that would improve the productivity of our agricultural sector.

“Another example that comes to mind could be the setup demonstration farms in farming areas, where farmers can come and obtain knowledge on the right farming practices to adopt in order to increase their yields and output.”

He told the captive audience that in a bid to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, the CBN as part of its mandate to ensure price and monetary stability, sought to apply targeted interventions, with the agricultural sector at the centre to encourage greater diversification of the economy.

He said the CBN was conscious of the fact that improved support for the sector would help to improve domestic productivity and reduce our imports of items that could be produced in Nigeria.

Emefiele said the agriculture sector despite years of underinvestment had a significant role to play in supporting the growth of the economy adding that it constitutes about 22 per cent of GDP and is responsible for employing millions of Nigerians.

However, he identified some of the core challenges that inhibited the growth of the sector to include lack of access to finance, access to markets, low yielding seeds, inadequate training on best farming practices, poor storage facilities, and access to irrigated farmland among others.