As the countdown to the October 31 deadline for the removal of the rice import duty waiver begins, mixed reactions have trailed the measure.
Some respondents of a nationwide survey on the issue criticised the measure as a disincentive to local rice production, while others, especially traders and consumers, hailed the policy.
The Federal Government introduced the measure in the wake of the unprecedented hike in the prices of food, especially imported rice, as a 50 kg bag sold for between N10,000 and N15,000, as against its N8,000 price tag about four months ago.
The measure has helped to bring down the price of rice back to its previous price of between N7,000 and N8,000, the survey revealed.
However, many respondents said that the waiver had adversely affected local rice production and had further impoverished the country’s rice farmers.
Mr. Victor Alasia, Secretary of the Rivers’ branch of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), told newsmen in Port Harcourt that “the waiver had not made any positive impact on the masses.”
Alasia said: “The import duty waiver had not encouraged local production of rice.
The only way current prices can be sustained or further reduced is by encouraging increased local rice production.
“The waiver has killed local production; it has deprived local farmers of the income to engage in rice production and not much of local rice production was witnessed this year in the state,” he said.
Alasia said that no new rice mills were established this year, while there was a shortage of milling machines.
Besides, he noted that rice farmers in Rivers had to transport their produce to Abakaliki or Afikpo in Ebonyi for processing.
“This situation has greatly discouraged local rice production in the state,” he said.
On the N10 billion intervention fund targeted at local rice farmers, the AFAN secretary said: “We do not know where the N10 billion rice intervention fund is; we have yet to access the money and no farmer has so far benefited from it.”
In Jos, AFAN said that only a deliberate policy that would encourage domestic rice production could get the country out of the current food crisis.
Dr Iliyasu Joe, Secretary of Plateau’s chapter of AFAN, said:
“We have made our position clear that, unless government evolves a deliberate policy to empower domestic rice producers, there will be no way out of the current food crisis.
“Ad hoc or temporary arrangements often witnessed in the agricultural sector are quite detrimental. The continuous ‘fire brigade’ approach to agriculture by the government has been the bane of agriculture.
“But if money is injected into the sector with all sincerity, it will bring about a great deal of difference to local food production and enhance people’s standard of living,’’ Joe told NAN .
Joe urged the government to identify farmers’ groups in each of the country’s local government and empower them, stressing that such a measure would encourage the people to go back to farming and attract large-scale rice production.
According to him, only three states in the country can produce enough rice for the country’s population, as well as for exports to other African countries.
On the intervention fund, Joe said: “The N10 billion Rice Intervention Fund is not different from other funds which farmers have not been able to access.”
He said that rice production in the state had progressively declined over the years, due to what he described as unfavourable policies.
He, therefore, called for a stakeholders’ summit to address “the perceived policy summersaults and fashion out enduring policies towards revamping the agricultural sector’’.
In Bauchi, an agricultural economist, Malam Haruna Isma’ila, urged the Federal Government not to extend the Oct. 31 deadline set for the removal of the waiver on rice importation.
Isma’ila said that if the government extended the deadline, it would discourage local rice production and encourage continued rice importation which, he noted, was counterproductive.
He said that such an action would also compound the problems bedevelling the agricultural sector.
“The waiver is negatively affecting local production and it demoralises our farmers.
“Nigeria has all it takes to feed her population. The importation of rice will increase our continued dependence on the agricultural produce of other nations, to the detriment of our local farmers.
“What we require is improved funding to enable us revamp the sector and produce enough food, including rice, for domestic consumption and exports,” he said.
The agriculturalist urged governments at all levels to show greater commitment toward modernising the agricultural sector through the introduction of modern farming techniques and the provision of adequate inputs to facilitate sustainable growth. Dr Abdulwahab Tijjani, a farmer, said that if local farmers were well-enlightened and provided with financial support, their farming and processing techniques would be able to meet international standards.
Tijjani is also the Chairman of the North-East Chapter of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN).
He said that continued rice importation was discouraging local production, adding that local rice farmers were unable to produce enough due to the lack of credit facilities and low investments in the sector.
From Kano comes the report that rice consumers had criticised the waiver, saying that it had made local producers “very lazy”.
Aliyu Shu’aibu, a rice consumer, said the decrease in the price of rice due to the waiver would only be for a limited time.
Shu’aibu said that the government only encouraged rice distributors to purchase rice and hoard it, for them to sell it later at higher prices when the waiver was withdrawn.
He, however, commended the Federal Government for the N10 billion rice intervention fund and urged local producers to make the best use of it.
The state Chairman of RIFAN, Alhaji Abubakar Aliyu, said that the waiver had its advantages and disadvantages.
According to him, it has helped to reduce price but, at the same time, it has affected local production adversely.
“Although the waiver is temporary, it has succeeded in rendering the local producers jobless and if sustained, it will destroy local rice production entirely,” Aliyu said.
He suggested that the federal and state governments should purchase the locally produced rice from the farmers and sell to the people at subsidised rates, so as to boost local production.
Aliyu also called on the governments to revive cooperative societies and agricultural produce marketing boards to standardise the product quality and price.
On the intervention fund, he said that it was a step in the right direction but stressed that RIFAN members had yet to access the funds.
“I hope it will be a reality and not just mere figures,” he added.
In Taraba, the state RIFAN Chairman, Alhaji Isa Yahaya, said that the measure, though temporary, was unsustainable due to its high financial implications, adding that it was also uneconomical for rice importation to continue.
Yahaya, who is also the owner of a medium rice-milling factory in Jalingo, said that the only alternative to the waiver was the provision of at least 50 per cent subsidy to local rice farmers in the areas of tractors, fertilisers and improved seedlings.
According to him, some countries like India, Bangladesh and Thailand have been giving their rice farmers 50 per cent subsidy in those areas, stressing that such a policy could also be applicable to Nigerian rice farmers.
Meanwhile, a rice expert, Mr. Musa Umar, said that the current price could be sustained if local farmers were assisted with large, medium and small-scale rice milling machines.
He stressed that if properly processed, local rice could attract more consumers than the foreign varieties.
Umar opined that the waiver had affected the local production of rice negatively.
On the other hand, rice farmers, sellers and consumers in Gombe have urged the Federal Government to extend the waiver due to the current reduction in the price of rice.
AFAN Secretary in the state, Alhaji Aliyu Abare, said that many households would have been forced to remove rice completely from their menu if for the waiver.
Abare said that the current price of rice could be sustained and further reduced, if the waiver was extended.
He said that the waiver did not affect local rice production in the state in anyway, as some consumers still preferred local rice.
He suggested that the measure should be extended by at least one year.
“By then, the availability of rice in the country will have been boosted under an accelerated rice production programme that would ensure its steady availability,’’ Abare said.
Malam Bello Mohammad, a staff of Gombe’s Ministry of Finance, told NAN that rice was the favourite meal of his family, adding that he was, therefore, in support of the indefinite retention of the waiver.
“In spite of our being Fulani by tribe, rice meal features prominently in my house, more than even cow milk (fura da nono), and any increase in its price will not be in the overall interest of my pocket,” he said.
However, Mr. Tilass Lass, Coordinator of Rice Project in the state Ministry of Agriculture, noted that since the measure had led to a N11.2 billion loss in revenue to the government: “I do not see it as a positive development.
“If the amount lost as a result of the waiver was used in subsidising farming inputs for rice farmers, it would have gone a long way in boosting local rice production,” Lass said.
He said that the waiver did not have any negative effect on local rice production in the state but admitted that the quantity of paddy produced this year had yet to be estimated.
Lass said that the state government had so far released N40 million from the N10 billion rice intervention fund to the state branch of RIFAN and expressed the hope that such releases would continue to enhance local rice production.
Meanwhile in Calabar, traders and rice consumers have appealed to the Federal Government to shelve its planned removal of the waiver by Oct. 31.
One of the traders at the Watt Market, Calabar, Mr. Samson Chigozie, said that any move by the Federal Government to remove the waiver would spell doom for traders.
Another trader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, urged the government to consider the plight of the people, especially now that Christmas and Muslim festivities were fast approaching.
“It will be very difficult for us to sell with another round of price increases, as customers’ patronage will be minimal,” he said.
A consumer, Mr. Emmanuel Ekanem, said that although the government was losing substantial revenue, it should reconsider its decision to withdraw the waiver because of its negative implications on the citizenry.
“Before government removes the waiver on rice importation, it should ensure that standard rice mills are built across the country for processing the local rice because the current rice mills are outdated,” he said.
And in Ogoja, farmers have said that instituting a sustainable rice programme would bring a lasting solution to the rice crisis in the country.
Mr. Legor Idagbo, Chairman of Bekwarra Local Government Council in Cross River, commended the government for the waiver, saying that it had helped to trigger a reduction in the price of rice.
Idagbo, however, said that the waiver’s withdrawal “without impetus to local production, would be telling on the people’’.
Courtesy: NAN
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