571,000 tonnes of rice were stopped by the FG from entering Nigeria

On Monday, the Federal Government announced that 571,000 tonnes of foreign rice warehoused in neighbouring countries were being targeted for the Nigerian market for the Christmas and New Year season, but vowed to stop their entry.
It also stated that Nigeria recently took delivery of 110 rice mills in its bid to enhance local production so as to commence the exportation of white rice from next year.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, who disclosed these in Abuja, stated that some of Nigeria’s neighbours, particularly the Republic of Benin, were not moving goods within the region as required by relevant treaties.
He, however, stated that the Federal Government would henceforth check all illegal movements of food and non-food items into Nigeria from the neighbouring countries.
Ogbeh said, “What they do is that they import goods, station themselves at our borders and then smuggle them into Nigeria. For instance, the Republic of Benin doesn’t eat parboiled rice. They eat white rice. But all the rice that comes from the borders into Nigeria is parboiled.
“I have a list now of all the ships that left Thailand in the last seven weeks and they’ve arrived; 571,000 tonnes of rice waiting to enter Nigeria for Christmas. But we won’t allow that. We have to review the treaty in the region, because we are at the losing end. Why are we doing this? It is because this rice is not definitely grown in the Republic of Benin.”
He added, “They bring tomato paste and chicken not produced in the Republic of Benin and because the Nigerian market is so huge, that they want to exploit it. But no economy out of sympathy should damage our own and we should not out of sentiment allow anybody to do things to us, which we can’t do to them.
“When Dangote was trying to ship his cement through the Republic of Benin to Togo, it took him one year to persuade them.”
Ogbeh reiterated that the country would start exporting rice from next year, as he stated that 110 mills had been acquired to make this a reality.
He said, “We can make it happen. We have just brought in 110 rice mills of different capacities. Some can do 100 tonnes, others 50, 40, 20 and 10 tonnes. We are going to give them to cooperative organisations and rice millers all over the country to enhance their milling capacities.
“We have another 12 rice mills to come in maybe next year so that the milling capacity is strong enough for us and we too will begin to export white rice to West Africa.”
On the issue of possible famine in Nigeria from January next year, the minister stated that the government was prepared and promised that the country would not experience such.
The minister stated, “We want to put it quite clearly that there is no danger of famine in the country, because the government will not allow that to happen. We are already taking steps to make sure that Nigerians don’t go through any such harrowing experience. There has been some panic over the massive purchase of grains from many of the big grain producing fields in some parts of the country.
“This fear was heightened by emirs and chiefs in the North, who met with us on Tuesday last week and raised the same anxiety. It is true that for the first time in our history, we are witnessing an extra-ordinary purchase of our grains from the West, North and Central Africa. We are even getting demands from as far as Namibia; they are asking for grains in large quantities of up to 37,000 tonnes of maize.”

Appeal: Osun state governor, Rauf Aregbesola, appeals to Nigerians to stop eating imported rice

Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun state yesterday appealed to Nigerians to stop eating imported rice and go back to eating indigenous ones such as Ofada rice and others. Aregbesola made the call while speaking at an event to mark the 2016 International Day for Eradication of Poverty in the state yesterday.

“Rice was not a staple food in Nigeria before 1980. Ofada rice was the only rice eaten during festivities. We should return to the time when we were eating indigenous rice. We have cassava, plantain, beans and yam. We should return to the time when we were eating our indigenous foods"he said

By December, Bag of Rice May Sell for N40,000 – Minister

The Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, has said that Nigeria spends about $22bn a year on importation of food.

Lokpobiri made this known on Saturday at a town hall meeting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

He said the development had led to the astronomical rise in price of rice and other commodities, stressing that if Nigerians failed to produce some of the items being imported, before December the price of rice would skyrocket to N40,000 a bag.

He said there was a projection that by 2050, Nigeria’s population would be 450 million, wondering what would happen then if the people could not feed themselves now.

Lokpobiri said, “For your information, we spend about $22bn a year importing food into Nigeria. We know how many more dollars … and that is why you see the price of rice going up.

“Price of rice was N12,000 some months ago, but it is now about N26,000 and if we don’t start producing, by December it could be N40,000.

“Rice matures in three months. So, this is a wake up call for Bayelsa people to take the four farms we have seriously. The federal government has four farms in the state in our records. The average land you see in Bayelsa can grow rice, so the colonial masters were not wrong in their assessment when they said Niger Delta could feed not only Nigeria but the entire West Africa sub-region.

“Unfortunately, agriculture till today, is not a priority of the Niger Delta as far as the state governments are concerned because of oil.”

He said the states in the Niger Delta had yet to give priority to agriculture the way the North-West states such as Kebbi, Jigawa, Kano as well as other states like Lagos, Ebonyi, Anambra, have prioritised it.

He said Anambra State for instance, was not owing salaries despite the fact that it does not have oil but raking in money by exporting vegetables.

ENUGU: CBN gives N1 billion loan to rice farmers to boost production

At least 5,000 farmers in Enugu State would benefit from a N1 billion Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) loan to the state for rice farmers. This is aimed at encouraging interested rice farmers in the state to go into full scale commercial rice farming.

Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor, who disclosed this in Enugu during the 2^nd launching of the Enugu CBN’s Anchor Borrowers’ program, said the program was in conjunction with the Okunerere Farms Limited (the anchor), and the Enugu State Government.

Emefiele noted that CBN strongly believes that under the present economic situation, developing agricultural sector, and acting as a financial catalyst to the economy by targeting specific sectors that can create jobs on a mass scale, reduce poverty broadly, boost inclusive economic growth and conserve scarce foreign reserves in the country, would be a way out of the economic problem.

Represented by Charles Enwere, the apex bank boss pointed that the anchor borrowers program was designed to create economic linkages between farmers and processors; not only to ensure increased agricultural output of rice, but also close the gap between production and consumption by ramping up capacity utilization in our integrated mills.” he said.

“In Enugu State, we are targeting 5,000 farmers. We are looking at two anchors, the first was Tarra Agro Industries and the second one was Okunerere Farm Limited. Tarra has a target of 3,000 farmers, while Okunerere has 2,000 farmers. So our combined capacity for farmers is 5,000. That is what we are looking out for in Enugu State, the CBN boss said.

He added that “what we actually did was to cost the production of rice in Enugu State per hectare, and we came up with the total sum of N193,000 per hectare. So that is the amount we are going to give to each farmer.

He however said they were not going to give to the farmers cash. The component of it is given to them as inputs, such as seedlings, fertilizers, pesticides and other important inputs to help boost agricultural outputs and productivity. Then the labour components would be paid in their account.
Flagging off the program, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, who was represented by his deputy, Cecilia Ezeilo said, his government would do anything within its reach to support farmers in the state for real diversification of the state economy.
Governor Ugwuanyi commended the initiative, and stated that when fully operational in two years, it is expected to drastically reduce food importation, diversify the country’s economy and create jobs for women and youths.
However, the regional manager, Bank of Agriculture (BoA) reminded the farmers that the money given to them was not a grant, but loans; and the Bank must collect back every kobo involved.