Stakeholders in the rice processing sub-sector have expressed concern that if the federal government fails to empower rice processors and continues to encourage rice importation, food scarcity would worsen next year in Nigeria.
They said that importation of rice amounts to job exportation to the countries importing rice to Nigeria and job loss to our country.
This was revealed by their representative, Mohammed Abba Liman, a rice processor and an executive member of Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN) who spoke with newsmen in Abuja yesterday.
Alhaji Liman said “government needs to provide serviceable loans to real and identifiable rice processors in each state of the federation” and that “it is not in the interest of the federal government to encourage importation of rice as it poses a big risk to the multi-billion naira investments in rice production by local rice processors”.
He pointed out the need for the government “to interface with RIPAN members and form a strong synergy with other critical stakeholders if it wants to tackle the food crisis, if not, next year, the situation might be worse than what we are currently experiencing.
“What rice processors need is a well structured loan scheme accessible to every registered and recognized rice processors in every state of the federation and not the type of politicized Anchor Borrowers Scheme where both real rice processors and ghost farmers took loans for wrong reasons.
“Don’t forget too that, Nigerians prefer consumption of locally processed and produced rice as it is more healthy than imported rice which contains toxic preservative chemical that is dangerous to health”, he said.
According to Liman, “the security agencies such as the military, Department of State Service, Police and Civil Defence should be made to provide adequate security on the farms to prevent herders and criminal elements from interfering with the targeted objective of the scheme, just like the Special Task Force established by the Federal Ministry of Solid Mineral Development.”
The RIPAN member said that, “all the farms should be well secured by security agents. This will enable us cultivate all season rice farming using irrigation system and dry farming season under an effective supervision and monitoring.
“We can assure Mr. President that if this suggestion is well considered and implemented, prices can be well regulated and the price of one bag of rice can drop drastically to between N45, 000, N40, 000 or even less.
“Under a well regulated and supervised scheme, RIPAN and its members can feed the entire country and food crisis will be over and 2027 re-election campaign for Mr. President will become a work over because if he conquers hunger for Nigerians, in addition to the proactive reforms of his government, he will have a smooth sail.
“This can also further reduce the pressure on the Naira-Dollar exchange rate since we are producing locally and not importing”, he said.
According to the national president of RIPAN, Mohammed Maifata, the country has over 100 rice mills with an installed capacity to process over 6 million metric tons of paddy, a volume that is expected to increase to 7.5 million metric tons between 2023 and 2024 as more projects come on board.
According to RIPAN, in order to keep rice mills functional, a 2.7 million MT of paddy is required as the current area under paddy cultivation is 1.6 million hectares.
Liman therefore said “it is a call for an urgent action. Let the federal government call for a meeting of critical stakeholders involving rice processors, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Central Bank of Nigeria, heads of security agencies, and others to work out a modality for supporting Mr. President’s efforts at boosting rice processing and by implication, food security in the country.”
This he said was so “important and urgent because we are fast approaching the raining and farming season as it will enable rice processors to make adequate preparation for the farming season.”
