By Victor Adeoti
In the pre-independence and early post-independence eras, agriculture was the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy, as groundnut, cocoa and rubber were the major cash crops of the country.
Observers recall that during those periods, many staple crops, including rice, beans, corn and millet, were widely grown across the country, saying that Nigerians were then able to feed well and live well.
They, however, note that in the oil boom era when petroleum became the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy with huge earnings from oil exports, there was a remarkable shift of focus from agriculture, resulting in a significant drop in agricultural production.
Attesting to this fact, Dr Sarah Alade, a Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, disclosed at the recent Africa Rising Conference in Maputo, Mozambique, that Nigeria spent an average of four billion dollars (about N640 billion) annually on rice importation.
“Agriculture is key to economic development in Africa; on the average, Nigeria spends about four billion dollars on the importation of rice.
“We definitely need to improve the domestic market to harness the natural resources we have,’’ she said.
Alade argued that if Africa was able to transform its agricultural sector, the continent would be able to feed its people and have surplus for others.
She, however, said that the Nigerian government was doing everything possible to minimise the risks in the agricultural sector so as to facilitate the participation of local investors.
She noted that the government’s agricultural programme, the Agricultural Transformation Agenda, had equally attracted the participation many foreign investors in agricultural projects.
Sharing similar sentiments, Mr Joshua Mabinuori, the National Vice-President, Association of Small-Scale Agro Producers in Nigeria (ASSAPIN), bemoaned the huge government’s expenditure on rice importation on a yearly basis.
He described the expenditure as “a colossal waste’’, insisting that the government at all levels ought to invest substantially in agriculture to enable the country to survive under the looming global food crisis.
Mabinuori, nonetheless, stressed that government could encourage local rice farmers to increase production via the introduction of price subsidy, adding that with increased rice production, resources hitherto expended on rice importation would be saved.
He reiterated that the introduction of price subsidy for local rice production would discourage rice importation, while boosting local rice production and consumption, as well as youth employment.
Mabinuori argued that rice farmers in rice-exporting countries enjoyed subsidies, adding that the policy encouraged them to produce more rice for export.
He also underscored the need for the government to subsidise local rice production, saying that it would minimise rice importation and encourage rice exportation.
“The prices of the rice we are importing are being subsidised by the governments of the rice-exporting countries; that is why they can produce rice in large quantities to boost exports to other countries.
“We have to free ourselves from sustained reliance on rice imports; if we don’t free ourselves, we would remain like this perpetually and unemployment would continue,’’ he added.
Mabinuori argued that local rice farmers incurred more expenses in producing a 50kg bag of rice than their counterparts in Indonesia and other rice-exporting countries.
“If Nigerian farmers are to sell their rice in the open market and compete with imported rice which sells for N200 per measure, while the local rice goes for N300 per measure. Who is going to buy the local rice? Nobody!!
“But if the government wants to promote local rice production instead of relying on rice imports, then, it should be ready to offset that N100 difference.
“Government should buy the locally produced rice from farmers at a reasonable price and then push it to the market at a lower price.
“Through such arrangements, people will be encouraged to buy the rice; while the farmers would remain in business and be encouraged to produce more as well,’’ he added.
However, Mr Olu Ademola, an agricultural economist, said that in spite of government efforts to boost local rice production via various programmes, not much had been achieved.
Ademola, who noted that Nigeria was one of the world`s largest importers of rice, stressed that the development should be a source of concern to policy makers, particularly because of plans to transform Nigeria into one of the 20 leading economies of the world by 2020.
“I think pragmatic efforts should be made to address the issue and improve the situation. Government ought to make sound policies that would facilitate the efforts of local rice farmers to boost production.
“We have good soil and good climatic conditions, while our farmers are willing to work. What government needs to do is to put all these factors together in promoting sustainable local rice production in the country.
“Government also needs to carry all the stakeholders along in the decision making process. Rice farmers, rice millers, rice distributors should never be side-lined in policy formulation and implementation as to local rice production,’’ he said.
Ademola also urged the government to encourage active private-public partnerships in rice production.
He said that the provision of enabling environment, good roads, good power supply and interest-free loans, among others, would encourage farmers to increase rice production which, in turn, would lessen rice importation.
Ademola, however, underscored the need for the government to sensitise the citizens to the benefits of buying and eating locally produced rice.
He said that the public sensitisation activity was considered imperative because of the erroneous belief of most Nigerians that locally produced rice was inferior to its imported variant.
In his opinion, Mr Olutimileyin Alamu, a rice farmer, bemoaned the economic costs of sustained rice importation by Nigeria, saying that rice importation had resulted in huge capital flights and increasing unemployment.
He said that the country was currently a net importer of rice, adding that the development had adversely affected local rice production, while increasing the fortunes of those involved in rice importation.
He recalled that past federal administrations failed to boost rice production in the country because of the poor implementation of different agricultural policies such as “Operation Feed the Nation and Green Revolution’’, among others.
Alamu emphasised that the government should make pragmatic efforts to boost rice production in the country through the introduction of good incentives for farmers such as the provision of loans and agricultural inputs.
This is not to suggest that the government is not making efforts to improve local rice production in the country, as the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adeshina, has repeatedly given the assurance that Nigeria would start exporting rice by 2017.
For instance, Adeshina made such projection when he signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Bank of Industry (BoI) in Abuja on rice and cassava development.
The minister said that the bank would provide N13.6 billion as intervention fund for the establishment of rice mills and cassava processing plants, as part of efforts to transform Nigeria into a rice exporting country by 2017.
He said that 10 integrated rice mills and six cassava processing plants would be established in various locations across the country.
Adeshina said that the 10 rice mills would be located in Kebbi, Zamfara, Kaduna, Kano, Kogi, Bayelsa, Bauchi and Anambra states, while the six cassava processing plants would be sited in Ondo, Ogun, Abia, Delta, Cross River and Nasarawa states.
The minister said that the intervention fund was conceived by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to facilitate the fulfilment of its Agriculture Transformation Agenda.
Adeshina said that in the next three years, Nigeria would become a rice exporter, as each of the 10 rice mills was expected to produce about 36,000 metric tonnes of rice each year.
He said that the project would be a 100-per-cent private sector initiative, with the Federal Government providing only the enabling environment, with a view to building the capacity of the country’s small and medium enterprises.
All in all, observers agree that the BoI-anchored intervention fund will certainly aid efforts to provoke massive rice production and minimise rice importation in the country.
They believe that the fund, in addition to the one-billion-dollar (about N160 billion) Memorandum of Understanding which the Federal Government recently signed with business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, on rice production, will soon transform Nigeria into a rice exporting nation.
All the same, experts insist that the government ought to initiate pragmatic schemes aimed at boosting the country’s food security, as part of efforts to address the dire effects of the anticipated global food crisis. (NANFeatures)
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