CBN disburses N1.49trn to farmers amid rising food inflation
The Central Bank of Nigeria said on Tuesday that it had so far disbursed N1.49 trillion to 3,038,649 farmers to support food supply and dampen inflationary pressures in the country.
The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this in a communique at the end of the two-day meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the bank.
The MPC retained the Monetary Policy Rate at 11.5 percent; the asymmetric corridor of +100/-700 basis points around the MPR; the cash reserve ratio at 27.5 percent; and the liquidity ratio at 30 percent.
He said the committee noted with concerns the continued uptick in inflationary pressure for the 18th consecutive month, as headline inflation (year-on-year) continued on an upward trend to 17.33 per cent at end-February 2021 from 16.47 per cent in January.
He said this increase continued to be attributed to the increase in both the food and core components of inflation, which rose to 21.79 and 12.38 percent respectively in February from 20.57 and 11.85 percent in January 2021.
“This persisting uptick in food inflation, however, was the major driving factor to the uptick in headline inflation,” Emefiele said.
He said this was due to the worsening security situation in many parts of the country, particularly, the food-producing areas, where farmers faced frequent attacks by herdsmen and bandits in their farms.
“While the bank is intervening significantly in the agricultural sector, the rising insecurity in some food-producing areas, is limiting the expected outcomes in terms of supply to the market, thus contributing to the rise in food prices,” he added.
The CBN governor said the committee further noted that the key drivers of the increase in core inflation included the hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), upward adjustment in electricity tariffs and the depreciation of the naira.
He said conscious of the persisting inflationary pressure fuelled largely by continued uptick in food prices, the committee noted the bank’s interventions to boost food production particularly through its various agricultural programmes.
Emefiele said, “The committee noted the disbursement of N107.60 billion to 548,109 farmers cultivating 703,619 hectares of land between Q4 2020 and Q1 2021 to boost dry season output in support of agricultural value chain development.
“Total disbursements as at end-February 2021 amounted to N1.487 trillion under the various agricultural programmes, of which N686.59 billion was disbursed under the Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme and N601.75 billion under the Anchor Borrowers Programmes to 3,038,649 farmers to support food supply and dampen inflationary pressures.”
