ABUJA: Federal Government’s efforts to boost self-sufficiency in rice production next year have affected export of the commodity globally, as prices of the product slump, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has said. He disclosed this at a roundtable meeting of rice supply chain of the agribusiness supplier development programme.
He revealed that the current surplus in production, ban on importation and the 2017 target of self-sufficiency, were already causing uproars among leading rice exports countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and China. The event was jointly organised by the ministry, the United Nations Development Programme and the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing for Agricultural Lending in Minna, Niger State.
Ogbe said government was ready to maintain a stable policy in rice business in order to reduce post-harvest losses in the country’s production. He said: “We are now rice sufficient in the country. By 2017, Nigeria will be self-sufficient in rice production. We are getting close, as there is improvement on what we have been getting before. This will boost our economy.
“The ban on rice importation by the Federal Government remains as there is currently surplus across the country. “This means there is result and it shows that the farmers and all government’s policies are aiding agriculture produce.” The agric minister further disclosed that the bulk of the rice consumed in the country was imported and had over the years exerted undue pressure on the country’s scarce foreign exchange.
