A bag of rice will sell for N10,000 in June
hehehehe...... Interesting
times are ahead for Nigerianas as the Rice Farmers Association of
Nigeria has revealed that a bag of rice will soon sell for N10,000.
Rice farmers under the auspices of Rice Farmers Association of
Nigeria, RIFAN, have revealed that a 50 kilogramme of rice bag will
sell at N10, 000 come June 2017.
This assurance was given by the National President, RIFAN, Aminu
Goronyo, while speaking on the current development in the rice industry,
which Goronyo disclosed that rice farmers under the association now
have direct access to fertiliser.
He said: “Fertiliser was a very big challenge, but today it has
become a history. We have signed MoU where the fertiliser is sold N5,
500 per bag of fertiliser, and is now a government policy. We have more
fertiliser in the country and go direct to the hands of the farmers and
is everywhere in the country.
“We have already achieved rice sufficiency in the last two
years because all the rice we eat is grown here in the country. With the
government through the Nigeria Customs Service on the land borders,
including the high exchange rate no importer can go to other countries
and import rice for profit. I assure you in the next three months a 50kg
bag of rice will come down to N10, 000.
“The Anchor Borrowers Scheme was conceived through collective
effort by the Central Bank of Nigeria, RIFAN and other relevant key
stakeholders, and we are everyday meeting with the CBN reviewing the
process.”
However, the rice farmers’ boss lamented inadequate rice seeds for
his over 4.2 million registered members, which according to him said
past governments, have failed to provide certified and quality seeds for
over 30 years.
“Seed is the most essential component of any commodity that is
going to be produced. We do not have rice seeds in Nigeria. The few
companies we have in the country do not have the capacity to supply the
quality and certified seeds we need. What we have is grossly inadequate
and not up to one percent of the need by Nigerian farmers.
“I blame the previous governments because for the 30 years we
don’t have enough certified seeds. The government has played vital role
in creating this problem for the farmers.
“The research centres are there and they are being paid but
they are not doing what they are supposed to because government rely on
them to come up with certified seeds, and we the end users, the farmers,
we know that we are not getting then real certified seed.
“Even the current Anchor Borrowers Scheme that is going on we
are just managing seeds from few companies that rarely have certified
seeds.
Most of the seeds that are being supplied are from the
companies that do not have all it takes, and we do not have other
options than to use what they are giving to us. The seeds released are
not up to five percent of our total requirement”, he stated.
No comments:
Post a Comment