The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has facilitated the release of 50,000 metric tonnes of Maize into the Nigerian market in fulfilment of its pledge to intervene in order to reduce the price of the commodity.
The Bank had in January this year, announced plans to release 300,000 metric tonnes of Maize into the Nigerian maize market so as to bridge the shortfall in production and augment local production of the commodity. .
The release was done in the second week of February through the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) to major poultry feed producers and poultry producers in the country.
The exercise has made a positive impact as the Maize Market has recorded a reduction in price from N200,000.00 to about N180,000.00 per metric tonnes even as further reduction is still being anticipated..
Major beneficiaries of the February release include: Premier Flour Mills, Crown – Olam, Grand Cereals, Animal Care, Amobyn and Hybrid Feeds. Others include Zartech, Wacot, Sayeed Farms, Pandagri Novum and Premium Farms as well as the South West, South-South, North West and North Central chapters of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN).
The benefiting companies represent the major players in the poultry value chain in the country.
The release of the 50,000 metric tonnes of Maize forestall the pressure and reduce the activities of intermediaries (middlemen) in the Nigerian Maize market.
Some of the factors responsible for the short fall which the Apex bank is trying to address include activities of bandits, drought in some parts of the country last year, activities of hoarders and middlemen as well as insecurity around the major maize producing belt of Niger, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara and part of Kano states.
As part of the Bank’s financing framework, the CBN facilitates the funding of maize farmers and processors through the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) Commodity Association, Private/Prime Anchors, State Governments, Maize Aggregation Scheme (MAS), and the Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme (CACS).