Price of one of the Nigerian staple food, maize, has plummeted from N200,000.00 per metric tonnes to about N180,000.00 per metric tonnes with the release by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of 50,000 metric tonnes of the item into the Nigerian market.
The Bank’s release of Maize which is said to be in fulfillment of its pledge to reduce the price of the commodity, was done through the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) to major poultry feed producers and poultry producers in the country.
According to a statement from the apex bank, the release of the 50,000 metric tonnes of Maize in the second week of February, has made an impact as the Maize Market has recorded a reduction in price from N200,000.00 per metric tonnes to about N180,000.00 per metric tonnes.
The statement which expressed hope that it is still anticipated that the current price will further reduce, named the major beneficiaries of the maize as Premier Flour Mills, Crown – Olam, Grand Cereals, Animal Care, Amobyn and Hybrid Feeds. Others include Zartech, Wacot, Sayeed Farms, PandagriNovum and Premium Farms as well as the South West, South-South, North West and North Central chapters of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN).
It said that the benefiting companies represent the major players in the poultry value chain in the country.
The statement recalled that the Central Bank of Nigeria had in January this year, announced its plan to release 300,000 metric tonnes of Maize into the Nigerian Maize Market aimed at bridging the shortfall in production and augment local production of the commodity.
It said that the current shortfall in the quantity of maize available in the market, that CBN is working on mitigating, is attributed to activities of banditry, 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).”
