The Central Bank of Nigeria has budgeted N25bn to finance cassava production in the country.
A senior official of the bank, Chinedu Ogbonnaya, who represented the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, made this known during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture BASIC-II Cassava Seed Entrepreneurs and Nigeria Cassava Growers Association.
According to him, the amount is split into two, with N11bn allocated to five-star farmers (those growing from five hectares and above) and N14bn to conventional farmers (those planting between one and four hectares).
Speaking at the event, which took place at the National Agricultural Seeds Council in Sheda, Abuja on Wednesday, Ogbonnaya said in 2020 alone, the CBN was targeting 105,000 cassava farmers in the country from all states.
The officer in charge of IITA Abuja, Dr. Gbassey Tarawali, on behalf of the institute’s Director General, Dr. Nteranya Sanginga, described the second phase of ‘Building an Economically Sustainable and Integrated Cassava Seed System’ as another opportunity for stakeholders to address the major problems that had limited the power of cassava in Africa in terms of poverty and livelihood improvement among growers.
He said, “We are here to midwife a new role for cassava seed producers and root farmers in Nigeria. We are sealing an alliance by all actors to ensure facilitation and supply of quality certified and disease-free seeds to farmers to help Nigerian smallholders improve their productivity and family income,” Tarawali explained.
