Buhari inaugurates Integrated Farm Project as Emefiele pledges CBN

President Muhammadu Buhari in Suduje Daura, Katsina State, inaugurated the first National Agriculture Land Development Authority (NALDA) Integrated Farm Estate, pledging that Nigeria, under his watch, would achieve food security.
Performing the inauguration, Buhari reiterated that his administration remained committed to ensuring that the country produced what Nigerians eat and ate only what it produced.
He restated that the government was determined to getting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty during his tenure, stressing his administration will continue to drive policies that will ensure food sufficiency and boost exports.
The president emphasised that the revamp of NALDA was geared toward encouraging integrated farming for employment and security.
Buhari said,” my administration’s target of getting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty remained realizable; No excuse is good enough for Nigeria to remain a mono-economy,”.
Mr Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said the Bank would collaborate with the National Agriculture Land Development Authority (NALDA) to develop integrated farms across the country.
According to him, the bank will provide affordable and accessible finance to farmers in Nigeria’s rural communities and provide jobs for its teeming population.
He said that the NALDA integrated farm estate would serve as an agricultural hub for inhabitants of the area with its wide-range of facilities to support rearing of poultry, goat and rabbit pens.
He said that it would also support fish ponds, crop farming areas, processing and packaging plants, storage, clinics, residential area, school, training centres, and an administrative facility.
Emefiele therefore expressed the bank’s readiness to work with NALDA to replicate similar integrated farm projects in rural communities in order to make life more meaningful for inhabitants of those areas.
He said that CBN would do so through the provision of affordable and accessible finance to the beneficiaries under the integrated farm programme.
” I commend the Buhari administration for resuscitating NALDA to optimally deliver on its mandate.
“Nigeria’s survival as a country is hinged on the resourcefulness and synergy among the government’s ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
“Especially in areas of policy formulation and implementation, which is essential to the attainment of Nigeria’s desired economic growth,” Emefiele said.
He reiterated the apex bank’s readiness to partner with NALDA and explore the potential of providing affordable and accessible finance to the beneficiaries under the integrated farm programme.
The CBN Governor said that doing so would scale up productivity and provide jobs for Nigerians.
He therefore, urged deposit money banks in the country to support the NALDA mandate, which according to him, aligned with the developmental priorities of the CBN.
Furthermore, Emefiele reiterated that the CBN, through the deployment of well targeted intervention programmes to farmers in the rural communities, aided government’s efforts at improving job and wealth creation.
He said, “These measures are also supporting our nation’s food security objectives; Nigeria is likely to make significant strides over the next three years in repositioning our agricultural sector for greater growth, given the combined efforts of NALDA, and the CBN in making land and credit available to farmers,” he added.
The CBN governor also emphasized the successes of the bank through specific interventions such as the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), Accelerated Agriculture Development Scheme (AADS) and the Private Sector-led Accelerated Agriculture Development Scheme (p-AADS).
Other interventions he said were the Agri/Business Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AgSMEIS) and the Targeted Credit Facility (TCF), all of which he noted were aimed at stimulating investments in critical sectors and segments of the economy, particularly those with high-growth impact and high employment potential.
According to Emefiele, the measures taken by the Buhari administration has provided finance to key sectors and segments.
He said that the financial provided to these sectors, with their implementation are tailored to support the administration’s policy of repositioning Nigeria to become a self-sufficient food producer, creating millions of jobs and supplying the domestic industries with their raw material needs.
“Our development finance efforts were also driven by the need to diversify the economy by reversing the ugly trend of relying largely on revenues from crude oil,” Emefiele said.
He added that the CBN was positioned to ensuring the integration of rural farmers into the Federal Government’s Economic Sustainability Plan, was focused on providing five million homes with electricity using renewable energy.
The host-Governor, Aminu Bello Masari and his Kebbi State counterpart, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, lauded the commitment of the Buhari administration in boosting agriculture to enhance food security and employment.