After rice, CBN distributes maize to crash price

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has finalized plans to distribute another 50,000 metric tonnes of maize from the strategic maize reserve (SMR) to 12 major producers as part of its Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).

According to the CBN the move, the third in the CBN’s program, will allow for market moderation and price control in Nigeria.

CBN also stated that the distribution is intended to limit the activities of middlemen who cause hoarding and artificial scarcity.

While confirming the release of the grains, the acting Director, Corporate Communications of CBN, Mr Osita Nwanisobi, was optimistic that the release would crash the prices of maize and reduce pressure on the market.

In a statement obtained from the CBN, Premier Flour Mills, Crown-Olam, Grand Cereals, Animal Care, Amobyn and Hybrid Feeds, were listed as recipients of the grains.

Others are Obasanjo Farms, Zartech, Wacot, Sayeed Farms, Pandagri Novum and Premium Farms.

Read also: CBN moves to distribute rice in order to crash price

Nwanisobi said that it would make the product directly available to feed producers, thereby reducing the price of poultry feed in the country.

He said it would also do so through Private/Prime Anchors, State Governments, Maize Aggregation Scheme and the Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme.

Also speaking on the development, Dr Bello Abubakar, National President of the Maize Association of Nigeria, urged middlemen to desist from taking advantage of the supply gap to hike the prices of grains.

The CBN and the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) also recently stepped up efforts to reduce rice prices in the face of growing food inflation in the country.

CBN said in a statement that it had completed preparations to distribute 27,000 metric tonnes of rice paddy straight to millers throughout the nation on Thursday, June 24, 2021, in a new attempt to reduce increasing food prices in the Nigerian market.

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