In a bid to boost food production across the country, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it has handed over N100 billion worth of fertilizers to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
The CBN Governor, Dr. Olayemi Cardoso, handed over the 2.15 million bags of fertilizers to the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, on Wednesday at the headquarters of the Ministry in Abuja.
At the handover ceremony, Cardoso said one of the primary mandates of CBN was to maintain price stability, adding that the cost of food was a crucial component of inflation.
This, according to the CBN boss, is because a substantial portion of household expenditure in Nigeria is allocated towards food and non-alcoholic beverages.
He explained that, despite the CBN’s efforts to reduce inflation in the short term, rising food prices continued to be the main source of inflationary pressures.
Cardoso pointed out that while transient inflationary pressures might persist, the government anticipates substantial alleviation by the third quarter of 2024.
He said: “This is precisely why we convene today to strengthen our collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture with the shared objective of mitigating the surge in food prices.
“In alignment with our strategic shift towards focusing on our fundamental mandate, the CBN has veered away from direct quasi-fiscal interventions and transitioned towards leveraging conventional monetary policy tools for executing monetary policies.
“In this light, we aim to extend our support and foster closer ties with ministries, departments, and agencies that bear the mandate and expertise to undertake these critical initiatives.
“Consequently, we aim to enhance our partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, thereby bolstering your endeavours to enhance food productivity and security and, ultimately, curbing food inflation and fortifying our pursuit of price stability.
“In pursuit of these goals, we are delighted to announce the allocation of 2.15 million bags of fertilizer valued at over N100bn, which we are humbly handing over to the Ministry of Agriculture.”
Persecondnews reports that the Apex Bank has, for some years now, intervened in the fertilizer market in Nigeria primarily by facilitating access to credit through programmes like the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme and the Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme.
Through these programmes, the CBN encourages banks to lend to farmers at concessionary rates, which helps farmers purchase fertilisers and other inputs.
On his part, Kyari described the cost of fertilizer as the major input in any agricultural production and lauded the apex bank for providing the commodity.
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