Alhaji Haruna Ibrahim Jega, a merchant and a major rice farmer has regretfully lamented on the huge N1billion amounts Nigeria spend on daily importation of rice.
Alhaji Haruna explained that Nigeria can turn out the major rice exporting country in the world if only the government can afford to invest N365 billion annually for three years research, establish standard rice mills and enhance rice production in the country.
Reacting to the words of the Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, which purported that Nigeria is importing rice worth N1 billion daily, Alhaji Haruna said it is the bad government policies on self sustenance and the greed of Nigeria’s business class making fortune from the imports that are responsible for the wasteful venture.
He submit that the government should establish at least six world standard rice mills and privatize them, establish rice marketing board that will buy rice as soon as the farmers harvest it, let the driver basins provide facilities for triple cropping per annum and the rice production will blossom in just two years.
He also stated that the situation where government itself encourages patronage of imported rice by abandoning local rice and buying the imported ones for school feeding, as relief materials to foreign and local beneficiaries is very discouraging.
Mr. Tunji Owoeye of the Rice Millers and Importers Association of Nigeria at the inaugural meeting of the Nigeria Agribusiness Group recently said, that government’s grant of waivers to some privilege importers of rice is threatening to local production and fast replacing local rice with the imported variety in the nation’s markets.
He however said that his association had provided the Nigeria Custom Service with vehicles to help them in patrolling the country’s porous borders to checkmate the smuggling of rice into the county, adding that the continuous importation of the products makes it difficult for rice millers to stay in business as they are disadvantaged in relation to their counterparts abroad.
