Emefiele tasks states on agric investments

The company is to support improved production and processing of cassava into high quality flour in Rivers State, the CBN governor said.

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has tasked governors of the 36 states to invest more in agriculture to grow their states’ economy.

Mr. Emefiele who spoke in Port Harcourt, on Thursday, at the launch of the Rivers Cassava Processing Company Limited, said the governors should invest in crops they have comparative advantage on.

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The company is to support improved production and processing of cassava into high quality flour in Rivers State, the CBN governor said.

Emefiele identified land development as a major constraint to increase in agricultural activities in the Southern parts of the country due to its topography, noting that the CBN had partnered with several state governments in the region under the Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme (AADS).

He also said about N7.436 billion had been accessed by four states in the South-South region to open up more land for cultivation, create access roads to agricultural land, and provide infrastructure among other support services in the region.

“These measures are helping to induce greater activity in the agricultural sector and are enabling the movement of goods from farm to factories, and to the markets,” he added.

Emefiele further noted that the emergence of the Nigerian economy from the recession in the fourth quarter of 2020, and the recent report that the economy continued to experience growth in the first quarter of 2021, were due to significant growth in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors.

“With the decline in our foreign exchange earnings, we can no longer afford to support continued importation of items that can be produced in Nigeria.”