The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has placed restrictions granting foreign exchange to importers of cassava derivative products.
The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele said this while addressing state governors on Thursday.
Emefiele said that the economy had witnessed consistent growth since exiting recession in the second quarter of the second quarter of 2017 but that it had been fragile growth.
He said: “The Bank’s initiatives to enhance agricultural development are focused on boosting the production of identified agricultural commodities that have high growth enhancement impact, create jobs, improve the capacity of industries, conserve foreign exchange has taken new dimensions.
He noted that “although Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of cassava tubers with 53 million mt per annum, the yield per hectare averaging 20 tonnes/ha is very low compared to other jurisdictions.
“In addition, the country imports cassava derivatives with over $600 million each year.
Emefiele had hosted about 18 governors and two deputy governors at a meeting to map out strategies on how the apex bank will help states to boosting their economies and creating massive employments.
He mentioned intervention programmes in the 10 product priority areas including cotton, dairy, textile, cassava, oil palm, livestock, rice, tomato, maize poultry.