•Nigeria’s rice sector economics gets trickier by the day
Rice production and consumption in Nigeria have long become a conundrum that must be of grave concern to both the government and Nigerians. The reason is that Nigerians’ love for and consumption of imported long grain rice has assumed the status of a troubling phenomenon. But even more troubling is that Nigeria’s attempt at producing the major staple locally has continued to be stumped.
The seeming addiction of Nigerians to imported rice, which makes smuggling of the commodity through the land borders a very profitable venture, is yet one reason local production suffers. Another is the lack of capacity and / or collusion of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in the lucrative smuggling trade. Lastly, the inability of government to muster the will to build a sustainable rice sector has made the rice crisis seemingly intractable.
Solving what has become Nigeria’s rice albatross would therefore require an especial ingenuity and dedicated effort to span at least a decade. And it must be said that the effort would be well worth it.
In the last seven years or so, the Federal Government has been making spirited efforts, including spending billions of naira to grow enough rice for local consumption. During the Goodluck Jonathan administration, a 2015 deadline was proclaimed for achieving self-sufficiency in local rice production. The period marked a renaissance of sort as paddy fields were expanded and for the first time, modern rice mills were installed in some parts of the country.
At the end of 2015, neither the target was achieved nor was serious dent made to Nigeria’s rice import bill. The Muhammadu Buhari administration intensified efforts at rice production with more mills, more loans to local farmers and increased sensitisation of the populace. Both the private sector and even state governments have shown more interest in the last three years more than ever before.
However, contrary to government’s claims, results remain shockingly dismal. While it is claimed that Nigeria saved about $800 million (N288 billion) from rice imports, there are indications that the country may have actually lost close to N1 trillion (over $2billion) in the last one year. Chief AuduOgbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, caused a stir early in the year when he asserted that the Thai ambassador to Nigeria had lamented to him that increased production of local rice had caused warehouses to shut down in Thailand, one of the chief exporting countries to Nigeria.
However, a global trade portal, Index Mundi, has released figures stridently repudiating government’s numbers. The outfit noted that while Nigeria imported 2.6 million tons of rice in 2017, as at 2nd quarter of 2018, Nigeria had reportedly imported 3.0 million tons. It suggests that domestic consumption may have risen sharply to nearly 7.0 million tons from 6.4 million tons in 2015 while local production may have stagnated since 2015.
What this boils down to is that Nigerians’ crave for imported rice far out-strips supply. Measures like high tariff and strictures in foreign exchange availability for rice imports have not tamed demand for it; not even the ban on imports through the land borders.
Ironically, more foreign rice is imported and smuggled through the neighbouring countries of Benin Republic and Cameroun than come in officially through Nigeria’s sea ports. It becomes double jeopardy as huge revenues are lost to these countries which now find rice business as their economic mainstay.
We urge government to review its rice policy once again. First, it must think long term, during which to achieve sufficiency and second, it must initiate bilateral engagements to secure the buy-in of her neighbours. The NCS must raise its game; there is so much more the service can do to cage the monster of smuggling. Then there is need for a massive, well planned and sustained attitudinal change campaign to get Nigerians to see the good in their local rice. Finally, a private-sector driven and sustained large scale rice production process must be put in place.
Providing home-grown rice for a population inching towards 200 million will conserve ample forex and give the Nigerian economy a big boost.