Nigeria: Mixed Reactions Trail Rice Import Duty Waiver
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Daily Independent (Lagos)
6 October 2008
Posted to the web 7 October 2008
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 of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) 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 NAN 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 October 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.
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He said that such an action would also compound the problems bedevelling the agricultural sector.
Read comments. Write your own.
WHEN WILL THE REAL WISE MEN WAKE UP IN NIGERIA???? YOU CRY ABOUT FEEDING THE PEOPLE, WHEN YOU DO NOT HAVE YOUR EQUIPMENT LINE UP! HOW ARE YOU GOING TO COMPLETE WHEN YOU HAVE NOTHING GOING FOR YOU EXCEPT EXCUSES. WE ARE PREPARED TO BUY ALL THE RICE AND CEMENT THE MANUFACTURE CAN MAKE FOR CASH EXPORT FOB LAGOS!! STOP CRYING AND GO TO WORK ON THE FIELDS AND EQUIPMENT AND FEED THE PEOPLE MEANWHILE BEFORE YOU HELP DRIVE THE PRICES UP AGAIN BY SAYING IMPORTS IS BAD. THE UNITED DI NOT EAT 80% OF THE RICE GROWN IN THE… [Read Full Text]
WHEN WILL THE REAL WISE MEN WAKE UP IN NIGERIA???? YOU CRY ABOUT FEEDING THE PEOPLE, WHEN YOU DO NOT HAVE YOUR EQUIPMENT LINE UP! HOW ARE YOU GOING TO COMPLETE WHEN YOU HAVE NOTHING GOING FOR YOU EXCEPT EXCUSES. WE ARE PREPARED TO BUY ALL THE RICE AND CEMENT THE MANUFACTURE CAN MAKE FOR CASH EXPORT FOB LAGOS!! STOP CRYING AND GO TO WORK ON THE FIELDS AND EQUIPMENT AND FEED THE PEOPLE MEANWHILE BEFORE YOU HELP DRIVE THE PRICES UP AGAIN BY SAYING IMPORTS IS BAD. THE UNITED DI NOT EAT 80% OF THE RICE GROWN IN THE… [Read Full Text]
WHEN WILL THE REAL WISE MEN WAKE UP IN NIGERIA???? YOU CRY ABOUT FEEDING THE PEOPLE, WHEN YOU DO NOT HAVE YOUR EQUIPMENT LINE UP! HOW ARE YOU GOING TO COMPLETE WHEN YOU HAVE NOTHING GOING FOR YOU EXCEPT EXCUSES. WE ARE PREPARED TO BUY ALL THE RICE AND CEMENT THE MANUFACTURE CAN MAKE FOR CASH EXPORT FOB LAGOS!! STOP CRYING AND GO TO WORK ON THE FIELDS AND EQUIPMENT AND FEED THE PEOPLE MEANWHILE BEFORE YOU HELP DRIVE THE PRICES UP AGAIN BY SAYING IMPORTS IS BAD. THE UNITED DI NOT EAT 80% OF THE RICE GROWN IN THE… [Read Full Text]
WHEN WILL THE REAL WISE MEN WAKE UP IN NIGERIA???? YOU CRY ABOUT THE FIELDS ARE NOT PREPARE. YOU WANT TO STOP IMPORTS BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT READY. THE MONEY GIVEN TO HELP YOU, IS SITTING THERE NOT BEING UTILIZE. YOU’RE LOOKING AT THE RUNNER GAINING ON YOU INSTEAD OF LOOKING WHERE YOU ARE GOING. YES YOU NEED EQUIPMENT AND INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO START YOUR PROJECTS, OF BEING ABLE TO GROW RICE IN THE AMOUNT THAT WOULD FEED YOUR COUNTRY, STILL HAVE ENOUGH TO EXPORT. YOU FIRST MUST HAVE A PLAN TO DO THIS. WE ARE PREPARED TO… [Read Full Text]
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WHEN WILL THE REAL WISE MEN WAKE UP IN NIGERIA???? YOU CRY ABOUT FEEDING THE PEOPLE, WHEN YOU DO NT HAVE YOUR EQUIPMENT LINE UP! HOW ARE YOU GOING TO COMPLETE WHEN YOU HAVE NOTHING GOING FOR YOU EXCEPT EXCUSES. WE ARE PREPARED TO BUY ALL THE RICE AND CEMENT THE MANUFACTURE CAN MAKE FOR CASH EXPORT FOB LAGOS!! STOP CRYING AND GO TO WORK ON THE FIELDS AND EQUIPMENT AND FEED THE PEOPLE MEANWHILE BEFORE YOU HELP DRIVE THE PRICES UP AGAIN BY SAYING IMPORTS IS BAD. THE UNITED DI NOT EAT 80% OF THE RICE GROWN IN THE… [Read Full Text]