Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria Godwin Emefiele has lamented the neglect of Nigeria’s agricultural sector, stating that the country is now a net importer of agricultural produce with import bill of over N630 billion.
Disclosing this on Thursday, September 17, at a workshop organized by CBN and the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) on Innovative Agricultural Products, in Lagos, Emefiele stated that the large import of food products include wheat, rice, flour, fish, tomato paste, textile and sugar.
The apex bank boss specifically disclosed that the insurance pillar of the Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) has been activated as this would help reduce risks associated with the sector.
“NIRSAL is built on five pillars where 1st and 2nd pillars, which are risk-sharing and technical assistance have been activated, while the 3rd pillar is the insurance, which is being activated today,” he said.
He, however, called for the development of the agricultural insurance sub-sector to help in mitigating natural disasters and eventually encouraging banks to lend to agriculture.
