Starting from Thursday this week, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) will begin to distribute 27,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice to millers across the country.
The financial regulator, in a statement on Tuesday, said the move will crash the price of the product in the market by eliminating the cost associated with middlemen.
The statement signed by the acting Director, Corporate Communications Department at the CBN, Osita Nwanisobi, stated that the paddy rice will be shared from RIFAN warehouses across 16 states.
Under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), the CBN had financed 221,450 rice farmers for the cultivation of 221,450 hectares in 32 States for 2020 wet season.
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In the past months, the apex bank had unveiled paddy rice pyramids in Niger, Kebbi, Gombe and Ekiti States.
The statement said, “Kaduna state has been selected as the key location for the paddy allocation exercise which will be done simultaneously in the states that recorded the highest quality of rice harvests during the last farming season.”
The bank is planning to unveil rice pyramids in the Federal Capital Territory, Ebonyi and Cross River in the coming weeks as part of its contribution to ensuring self-sustenance in food production as well as food security in Nigeria.
