The Federal government has urged Nigerians to consume locally produced rice as the imported ones are not good for human consumption.
This appeal was sent by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed while addressing the press in Oro, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara state.
He said the imported rice Nigerians are consuming were produced as cattle feeds in their countries of origin.
Speaking further, the minister said imported rice is cheaper because its producers are dumping them in Nigeria.
He, therefore, enjoined Nigerians to consume locally produced rice, describing them as “healthy and fresh”.
“Why imported rice is cheaper is that it is not fit for consumption. It is being dumped. It is rice that has been kept in silos for years that is being unleashed on Nigerians; but because it is not coming through the proper channels, it is being smuggled.
“Many of the imported brands of rice will not pass the NAFDAC test; that is why we have continued to campaign that Nigerians should patronize Nigerian rice because it is the only healthy rice. No Nigerian rice is older than one year.”
“But you have rice coming from other countries that has been produced for five or six years, which normally they will feed to their cattle in their countries, which they are feeding us with today. But gradually, I can assure you that with the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, more support will be given to our farmers in the next couple of years; not only that we are going to be self-sufficient in rice production, it will become cheaper.
“People may say that imported rice is still cheaper. Oh yes, for three reasons: One, the ones being imported is rice that is no longer fit for human consumption. They are dumping it here. The rice is sub-standard. They even give the rice on credit for people to buy, because they know that the rice they are exporting should be given to cattle. That is why we have embarked on the campaign in the mass media that Nigerians should buy made in Nigeria rice.
Alhaji Lai Mohammed assured the Federal government is making efforts to support rice farmers and boost local rice production.
He said, “The government is making efforts to ensure that we subsidize our rice so that it will become cheaper. We are very confident that in the next couple of years, we would have achieved self-sufficiency in rice as in other products. It will take about the next one and half years for Nigeria to be self-sufficient in rice. What we have today is a far cry from what we had before. In 2015, we were doing about three million metric tonnes of rice; but today, we are doing about five million metric tons of rice.”
Speaking further on steps being taken by the Federal Government to boost local rice production, the Minister said, “When we came in, there were five million rice farmers. Today, we have in excess of 11 million rice farmers. Our rice import has been cut by over 80 percent. These didn’t happen by accident. They were as a result of our Anchor Borrowers’ Programme. There are more millionaire farmers today than at any other time in the history of our nation. Today, Nigeria is close to achieving self-sufficiency in rice than at any other time in the history of our country.”
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