THE recent ostentatious display of 13 rice pyramids in Abuja by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), as evidence of the success of the rice revolution attracted both praise and cynicism. While the Federal Government is effusive over the drastic increase in domestic production and the corresponding decrease in import, critics wonder why the price of the staple remains high and beyond the reach of the poorest homes. The government must redouble its efforts to sustain self-sufficiency in rice production and extend same to other staples to eradicate rising poverty, create jobs and stimulate exports.
At the unveiling of the pyramids, the Central Bank of NigeriaGovernor, Godwin Emefiele, gushed that rice production in the country rose to nine million metric tonnes in 2021, from about 5.4 million MT in 2015 when the Buhari regime took office. He attributed the increase in production to interventions in the agricultural sector like the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, noting that the scheme had also helped to reduce Nigeria’s import bill.
Emefiele said, “Thailand alone exported 1.3 million metric tonnes of rice to Nigeria in 2014. By 2016, rice imports from Thailand had fallen to only 58,000 metric tonnes. As of the end of 2021, they only exported 2,160 metric tonnes to Nigeria, thereby saving us foreign exchange and helping preserve jobs in Nigeria.” At a time, rice imports from Thailand cost Nigeria over $700 million per year.
Aside from Thailand, China, India, Indonesia, and Bangladesh that combined, produce more than 50 percent of global production, were also major exporters of rice to Nigeria and West Africa.
Undeniably, the rice programme begun under the former President, Goodluck Jonathan, has made appreciable strides.From 388,000MT in 1971, domestic production has risen steadily, spurting after that government inaugurated the rice revolution, rising to 8.17MMT by 2020. The Buhari regime has sustained the programme despite recent daunting challenges.
But it needs to do more. The pace of growth of the rice programme has slowed down amid serious challenges. One is rampant insecurity in the major rice producing areas. Terrorists of different hues –Islamist Boko Haram, ISWAP and other offshoots, bandit/kidnappers and killer Fulani herders and land grabbers – have despoiled the Northern states, disrupted farming, transportation, markets, and supply chains.
Down South, armed Fulani herders harass farmers in the rice fields of Ofada in Ogun State and in Ebonyi State, where killers described as “unknown gunmen” are painting the South-East states in blood. The result is lower production while many farmers are finding it difficult to repay their loans. The CBN had disbursed N864 billion to 4.1 million farmers by December 2021.
Sustainable production and transformation of the entire agriculture value chain are crucial to the food and nutrition security of Nigeria. The government should deepen its intervention in other major staples, especially maize, millet, sorghum, and wheat.
Though endowed by nature, Nigeria currently spends over N1.89 trillion annually importing food, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Rice, milk, wheat, sugar, fish, and processed foods take a chunk of the amount. Pruning this outrageous bill and forcing down the prevailing high food prices should be national priorities. Annual food inflation, said the National Bureau of Statistics, rose for the 24th consecutive month to 20.75 percent in October 2021. A bag of rice currently sells at N25,000, while the minimum wage is just N30,000. Across the board, prices of staples are high and rising, taking a great part of the income of an average Nigerian family.In November 2021, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation warned that over 12 million Nigerians faced hunger due to insecurity and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other countries take food security seriously. The United States Department of Agriculture’s food and nutrition assistance programmes totalled $122.1 billion in 2020, 32 percent more than the previous fiscal year. Almost 20 percent of the European Union’s annual humanitarian aid budget provides emergency food assistance and nutrition. The European Commission provided €500 million in 2020 to alleviate food insecurity. Existing and new legislations on agriculture should be harmonised. A bill recently passed by the Senate establishing a National Rice Development Council is expected to save Nigeria about $2 billion annually from rice importation and improve foreign exchange earnings. It should be swiftly adopted by the lower chamber, signed into law and implemented.
Securing the country is essential to allow for unfettered production, transportation, and commerce. The gruesome slaughter of scores of rice farmers by Boko Haram insurgents at Kwashebe in Borno State in November 2020 demonstrates the country’s precarious security situation. From the North-East to the North-West, down to the South-West and South-East, farmers arekidnapped and mauled right on their farms, their women raped, and their produce purloined by criminals. A returnee from the US, Olajumoke Awosika, once narrated how in Iseyin, Oyo State, she was forced to abandon her N20 million farm due to incessant attacks by Fulani marauders. In March 2021, suspected herders murdered another returnee and large-scale farmer, Fatai Aborode, in Oke-Ogun, Oyo State. Security of farms and highways should be top priority to sustain Buhari’s eat-what-we-grow campaign.
State governments should drive the food revolution as the defunct regions of the First Republic did with outstanding success. They should roll out agricultural programmes, partner with local farmers and invest in training. Priority should be accorded to rural infrastructure, extension services, storage, microcredit schemes and SMEs in food processing. Provision of preservation mechanisms to avert post-harvest losses is vital. More collaboration by states like in the Lagos and Kebbi for Lake Rice is needed to boost agriculture production. States should provide the enabling environment to draw in large-scale domestic and foreign investors.
The CBN must ensure loans and repayment terms are duly followed. It should make efforts to recover its money using deposit money banks, development banks and microfinance institutions with strict supervisory and regulatory rules.
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