Food Security: Nigerians can buy 50kg bag of rice for N5,000, only if…. —RIFAN

*Nigerian Rice Farmers Association says safe for the high exchange rate of the Naira to US Dollar, Nigerian consumers would have been buying a 50kg bag of rice for N5,000 in view of increased production

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Against the backdrop of the increasing prices of foodstuffs and other essential daily needs in recent times, the Nigerian Rice Farmers Association has advanced reason the cost of rice is hitting the roof in the country.

Malam Aminu Goronyo, President of Nigerian Rice Farmers Association (RIFAN), while speaking on Arise TV monitored in Lagos, said an increase in the exchange rate of the Naira to the US Dollar is the main reason Nigerians have yet to experience the effect of the increase in rice production in the country.

Goronyo stated: “It is the exchange rate of Naira to Dollar, otherwise, we would have been buying a 50kg bag of rice for N5,000, we have increased tremendously in our production.”

The RIFAN President as well also highlighted how farmers had to convert their Naira for Dollars in order to acquire the components needed to grow their fields.

“For instance, the herbicide, sprayer, water pump, and the fertilizer component that we use are being imported.

“You have to change the Naira to the Dollar to buy those components that would give the farmers enough inputs to cultivate their farms.

“That is the present situation. You have to sell it to the farmers at a price that you exchange your Naira, to make a profit,” said he.

Goronyo further noted that “buying this input in 2015, it is still the same farmer, but the difference is the exchange of Naira to the Dollar. But there has been an increase in the area of production.

“Before 2015, what we received from our hectares was not more than 21.5 metric tonnes with a maximum of 2.5 tonnes.”

He added: “But today, the same farmers in the same hectare are obtaining between 5 and 9.5 metric tonnes due to the help we are receiving from the CBN through the Anchored Borrowers Programme.

“If not for the support, considering the exchange rate, I don’t know how much you will buy a bag of rice.”