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Tag: rice

  • Nigeria saves N216bn from rice importation – BOA

    Nigeria saves N216bn from rice importation – BOA

    Nigeria has saved over N216 billion from the importation of rice alone from Thailand and other countries since the nation’s domestic mass production flooded the markets under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).

    Prince Niyi Akenzua, the Executive Director, Risk Management and Finance, Bank of Agriculture (BOA) disclosed on Thursday in Ibadan when he visited Gov. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State.

    The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that Akenzua had led some other officials of the bank on the visit to the state.

    He said that the figure represented a fraction of a staggering $22 billion (N7.92trillion) spent on importation of foods into the country annually prior to the advent of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

    Akenzua said it was worthy of commendation that the country had committed itself to diversifying from oil economy, with emphasis on revitalisation of agriculture.

    He said he had embarked on advocacy visit around the country to enlist the support and involvement of state governments in ABP, which freed the country from reliance on importation of rice.

    “We enjoin Oyo State to participate in the ABP as we have remodelled the programme to expand the scope of beneficiaries.

    “The pilot scheme was so successful that $600m was saved from rice importation due to massive rice production in the country.

    “One or two rice millers in Thailand have closed down because Nigeria, which has always been their major importer, has stopped importing their rice.

    “We used to spend $22 billion importing food into Nigeria and with our consciousness that every square meter in the country is arable land.

    “We felt that it was not sustainable. Of course, the crash in crude oil price has forced us back to agriculture,’’ he said.

    Akenzua said that the state could choose a particular crop to produce under the programme, with a promise to co-fund or fund the production of such crop.

    Ajimobi in his remarks commended the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh for the positive changes he had brought into the agriculture sector since he assumed duties at the ministry.

    The governor stated that the fundamental problem besetting the country was attitudinal, stressing that the country was not bereft of knowledge, policies and programmes capable of enhancing its economy.

    Ajimobi said that the state was supposed to be the food basket of the nation if past leaders had seen agriculture as a major solution to unemployment, hunger and economic driver.

    According to him, the state is in good stead to be a major agric hub, judging by the concentration of reputable research institutions in the state and its vast arable land.

    “The state is also strategically located between Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of the country and the North among other comparative advantages.”

    He advised the new management of BOA to do all that is humanly possible to sustain the momentum in its renewed drive to revitalise the agriculture sector.

    “You need to change the attitude of our people so they will know that there is money in agriculture.

    “We are in this sorry state today because of bureaucracy and lack of sustenance of past agric policies. What has happened to Operation Feed the Nation?

    “Don’t just talk the talk, walk the talk. In the past, some people will just give loans to themselves, which they knew they would not recover and this had crippled the bank.”

    The governor stated that the state was ready to take advantage of all opportunities available in agriculture to promote the standard of living of its people.

    The governor promised to lead by example by also venturing into commercial agriculture, urging the BOA team to advise him on how he could go about obtaining a loan for the purpose.

  • Nigeria saves N216b from local rice production

    Nigeria has saved over $600 million (about N216billion) from stoppage of rice importation through its domestic mass production  under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), the Bank of Agriculture (BoA), has said.

    The figure represents a fraction of a staggering $22billion (N7.92trillion) spent on importation of foods into the country yearly before the advent of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

    Its Executive Director, Risk Management and Finance, Dr Gabriel Akenzua disclosed this yesterday when he led a delegation of top officials of the bank on a courtesy visit to Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, in his office, in Ibadan.

    He said it was worthy of commendation that the country had committed itself to diversifying from oil economy, with emphasis on revitalisation of agriculture.

    He said he had embarked on advocacy visit around the country to enlist the support and involvement of state governments in the ABP, which, he said, had freed the country from reliance on importation of rice.

    Akenzua said: “We enjoin Oyo State to participate in the ABP, as we have rejigged the programme to expand the scope of beneficiaries. The pilot scheme was so successful that $600million was saved from rice importation due to massive rice production in the country.

    “One or two rice millers in Thailand have closed down because Nigeria, which has always been their major importer, has stopped importing their rice.

    “We used to spend $22billion importing food into Nigeria and with our consciousness that every square meter in the country is arable land, we felt that it was not sustainable. Of course, the crash in crude oil price has forced us back to agriculture.”

    The ED said the state could choose a particular crop it wished to produce under the programme, with a promise to either co-fund or completely fund the production of such crop.

    Responding, Ajimobi commended the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, for what he called the positive changes he had brought into the agriculture sector since taking over the ministry.

    The governor stated that the fundamental problem besetting the country was attitudinal, stressing that the country was not bereft of knowledge, policies and programmes capable of boosting the economy.

    Ajimobi said the state was supposed to be the food basket of the nation if past leaders had seen agriculture as a major solution to hunger and economic driver, as well as a main source of employment for the youth.

    According to him, the state was in good stead to be a major agric hub, judging by the concentration of reputable research institutions in the state, its vast arable land, as well as location between Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of the country, and the North among other comparative advantages.

    He advised the new management of BoA to do all  humanly possible to sustain the momentum in its renewed drive to revitalise the agriculture sector.

    Ajimobi said: “You need to change the attitude of our people so they would know that there is money in agriculture. We are in this sorry state today because of bureaucracy and lack of sustenance of past agric policies. What has happened to Operation Feed the Nation?

    “The new management of BoA has started well. I hope you will maintain the zeal with which you have started. Don’t just talk the talk, walk the talk. In the past, some people will just give loans to themselves, which they knew they would not recover and this had crippled the bank.

    “Oyo State is ready to take advantage of all opportunities available in agriculture to promote the standard of living of our people. We believe that with the natural endowment in our state we should be the food basket of Nigeria.”

  • Price of local rice drops in Jalingo markets

    Price of local rice drops in Jalingo markets

    The price of local rice has significantly dropped in some major markets in Jalingo, Taraba.

    A survey conducted by the agency on Wednesday at Gadar Bobboji, Kasuwan Bera and Mile Six Markets, shows that the price has significantly decrease.

    A measure of local rice selling between N650 and N750, two to three weeks ago, is now sold between N480 and N550.

    Similarly, a bag of local rice sold between N28, 000 and N30, 000 two to three weeks ago is now selling at between N23, 000 and N24, 000.

    When contacted for comment, the leader of rice sellers at Gadar Bobboji Market, Alhaji Nura Mohammed, attributed the price decrease to availability of the commodity in the market.

    He said that the bumper harvest recorded by farmers in the state had contributed to the increase in supply.

    Mohammed predicted that the price could drop further ahead of the Yuletides if the current supply of rice to the market was sustained.

    NAN however discovered that the price of foreign rice has slightly increased in the markets.

    A measure of foreign rice which costs N950 two weeks ago is now selling at N1, 000, while a 50kg bag of foreign rice has gone up from N18, 500 to N19, 000.

    NAN

  • Customs seizes 3, 278 bags of rice, 55 vehicles

    Customs seizes 3, 278 bags of rice, 55 vehicles

    Niger Area Command of Nigeria Customs Service generated N1.9billion from January to September, the Area Controller, Mr. Benjamin Binga, has said.

    He told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Minna that the command seized 3, 278 bags of rice and 55 vehicles with Duty Paid Value of N52.6 million and N51.6 million during the period.

    Binga said the command comprising Niger, Kogi and Kwara states, would meet its 2017 revenue target of N2.8 billion by the end of the year.

    He stressed that customs personnel would mount surveillance and adopt measures to make smuggling impossible.

    “The command has deployed competent officers to manage identified illegal routes used by smugglers to bring in unwholesome goods,” Binga said.

    He solicited the support of community leaders in the three states to assist customs field officers with information on the movement of smugglers.

     

  • More rice coming from Kebbi

    More rice coming from Kebbi

    Last year, there was some rice relief, thanks to Kebbi State growers. Now, there is hope that things will get better. More rice will be produced, according to the state’s smallholder farmers who are championing the production of the staple.

    Last year, through partnership between Kebbi state and Lagos government, prices of rice dropped massively from N25, 000 to N12, 000, fulfilling the desires of many Nigerians to have rice in their homes. The Lake rice was a splendor many Nigerians savaged with pride.

    The EU, in collaboration with Oxfam, is implementing a Pro Resilience Action (PROACT) Project to further increase the capacity of farmers in the state to go into rice production. The project is an EU Support to Food Security and Resilience in Northern Nigeria.

    Because of the PROACT project, more farmers have embraced rice farming using modern techniques and improved inputs acquired under the project.

    Already, farmers in the state have received farm inputs under the project to drive dry season farming. 6,000 bags of fertilizer have been distributed to 1,500 group of farmers in the state.

    A member of the village savings and loan scheme (VSLA) in Goriyo-Damana community, Birnin Kebbi, Abubakar Hakimi, told our reporter he had already received 30 bags of fertilizers from Oxfam for dry season farming.

    He said he could barely afford two bags of fertilizer until Oxfam begun distributing fertilizers to small holder farmers in the state.

    Hakimi, who is into rice production, said he expects to harvest 50 bags of rice as against the 35 he harvested last year.

    “We never knew how to plant rice very well and apply fertilizer to give us high yield,” he says through an interpreter with a broad smile on his face.

    “The current year is more promising for rice farmers in the village’ –they have not witnessed farming with such huge produce and with less efforts too.

    “But their efforts have paid off because-they are learning new and modern farming techniques to cultivate rice and also have access to farm inputs, hitherto not available to them.

    “I sold and fed my family well after selling my rice after the dry season farming. I made 30 bags from this same farm and I was surprised. I applied fertilizer and did modern rice farming technique which I never knew in the past,” he said through an interpreter.

    However, Oxfam Livelihood and Private Sector Manager, William Mafwalal, said the organization has also distributed 400 surface irrigation water pumps to over 62 farmers groups in Jega and Birnin Kebbi Local Governments in Kebbi, with the aim of increasing dry season farming.

    The distribution, he said, was part of the PROACT Project.

    The PRO-ACT project is currently being implemented by Development Exchange Centre (DEC) in three local governments in Kebbi State ( Birnin-Kebbi, Jega and Dangu Wasaga) and four in Adamawa State.

    The project is expected to support the state governments in their efforts toward improving agricultural productivity, enhancing food security and reducing poverty, especially among small holder farmers in rural communities.

    In the first phase of the support project, a total number of 625 farmers have benefited from the dry season farming inputs out of which 350 are women in Adamawa. In Kebbi, of the 1,500 beneficiaries, 590 are women.

    He said: “Oxfam believes fertilizers and irrigation water pumps are critical to dry season farming production in the states and most small holder farmers have been having challenges accessing these inputs.”

    The EU has committed 10 million euros to the project while Oxfam is committing 1 million euros.

    “It is a four-year intervention with lots of components all aimed at fighting hunger and building the resilience of farmers.

    “The European Union is a co-funder of the project and they are giving about 10 million euros and Oxfam is also augmenting with 1 million euros,” Mafwalal, added.

    According to him, the project is a deliberate attempt to ensure that women are given support to embark on massive rice production in the two states.

    “It is a deliberate attempt to ensure that women are more empowered to achieve food security.

    “When women who basically 60 per cent of farmers in rural communities are not given special consideration, they will be left behind. So we deliberately put it that 60 per cent of the beneficiaries must be women.
    “At the moment, we are almost at 55-57 per cent women participation,” he added.

    An Agriculture Extension worker with Kebbi State Ministry of Agriculture, Aisha Gambo, said she teaches the farmers how to apply the fertilizers they receive from Oxfam.

    Gambo, who works with Oxfam on part-time basis to facilitate the PRO-ACT project, said farmers in the state have also been taught on the types of seeds and how to use them to expect bumper harvest.

    “We are teaching the women how to embrace farm business fully because before now they were only farming without knowing what they were doing.

    “We want them to realize that farming is not for them to just feed their family; they have to make money from it too. We gather them for farming business school where we teach them all the steps that can make them successful farmers.

    “We taught them how to apply the fertilizer, not the broadcasting methods that they are used to doing. They should use their five fingers to take the fertilizers and drop.

    “The types of seeds. Good seeds that will bring good yields. We advise them on how to prepare the seeds, wash them and how to know the different seeds that are viable for farming.

    “We taught them to know the seeds that are most viable,” she said.

  • Ogun customs seizes N125m smuggled vehicles, rice

    Operatives of the Ogun Customs Area Command have seized 11 posh cars and bags of rice worth a sum of N125 million from suspected smugglers within Abeokuta and Idiroko axis of the State.

    Vehicles seized at Abeokuta are: 2004 Honda Pilot car; one Toyota Highlander Sports Utility Vehicle; one 2004 Toyota Sienna car; 1999 Lexus car; one 2015 Toyota Highlander and a brand new 2017 Prado SUV  with duty paid value of N75 million, while 573 bags of rice worth a sum of N2.4 million was also intercepted.

    Also seized in the Idiroko axis were five cars including a brand new 2017 Toyota Hiace bus; Acura ZDX saloon car; Lexus RX 350 SUV; Opel Omega saloon car and one Opel Austral saloon car with duty paid value of N47.3 million.

    Speaking with reporters on Wednesday at the Idiroko Customs Area Command, Customs Area Controller of Ogun State, Comptroller Sani Madugu said no fewer than 20 cars had been intercepted the goods from smugglers within the last three weeks.

    Madugu said: ‘’Anti-smuggling activities in the Ogun Area Command is ongoing and this is a result of what we have been able to do in the last four days. We are succeeding and we are defeating the smugglers and we are winning them(smugglers).One of the latest vehicles intercepted by our men is a brand new 2017 Toyota Prado jeep. We have about 600 bags of rice seized from smugglers within the last three days.

    ‘’We are fighting the smugglers in the bushes, on the road and in the creeks and any other place they hide rice. We have now discovered their hideout, where they normally hid rice in a small h’’ut in the bush where an elderly man would sit outside and disguise like the owner of the building to mislead our men. We broke into one of such buildings about two days ago and recovered about 250 bags of rice from the building.

    ‘’We have equally struck at another point where they are now hiding because the roads have become hot for them to operate or transport their illicit goods. We are trying our best, although they are devising new means of smuggling but whatever plans they devise to continue smuggling activities in Ogun Area Command, we have a ‘Plan B’ to contain them. We will continue to get them because we are getting maximum support from other security agencies; both the Brigade Commander of Army in Abeokuta and Commander of 192 Battalion in Owode, Yewa South Local Government Area as well as the Commanding Officer in charge of the army base in Ilaro are giving us helping hands, while the police commissioner, police area commanders and divisional police officers are cooperating with us in the fight against smuggling.’’

    Madugu said the community leaders are being engaged to sensitise their people about the need to desist from smuggling activities.

    ‘’ We have been engaging community leaders, youth leaders and spiritual leaders in the fight against smuggling activities.  We have visited top monarchs and traditional rulers in this regard but these smugglers have refused to listen to the monarchs because smuggling is a lucrative business that they cannot resist or leave. We are however currently prosecuting three suspected smugglers in court.’’

    Checks by The Nation revealed that sundry prohibited items intercepted from smugglers including 8, 548 bags of rice,1,100 bags of sugar,1,031 kegs of vegetable oil, and 29 kegs of palm oil, among others are kept at the central warehouse of the customs command in Idiroko.

  • Rice, o compatriots!

    Rice, o compatriots — coming down to N6, 000 a 50kg bag — rice, o compatriots!

    Did you hear that dramatic whoop!  But how feasible is it?

    Audu Ogbeh, Agriculture and Rural Development minister, certainly feels it is, in a few months, if the Federal Government provides farmers with the needed incentives to cut down the stress — and cost — of production.  And he tends to have committed the Federal Government to doing just that.

    “Last year,” the minister recalled, “we procured  80, 000 threshers; this year, we will procure another 2, 500 threshers; and we are bringing in more reapers for distribution to rice farmers.”

    “The equipment,” added the minister, “will enable them to cut the rice, thresh it, winnow it and put it in sacks.  It will take away all the stress, which makes rice farming very difficult so that you can keep to the price of N110, 000 per tonne of paddy that we agreed.”

    Well, if the price of rice will fall, it certainly won’t be by happenstance!  But what are the farmers themselves saying?  Doable — if …?

    Alhaji Aminu Goronyo, national president of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) speaking at the meeting of the Rice Processing Association of Nigeria (RIPAN), said though both RIFAN and RIPAN had cut the price of Nigerian-grown rice to between N13, 000 and N13, 500, further slicing to N6, 000 was possible.

    The conditions?  For starters, a bumper harvest.  From the abundant rains this year, that would appear a probability.

    And then?  A Federal Government-induced cut in rice growing and processing cost, by guaranteed support services.  That also came in the minister’s pledge of more threshers and more reapers.  If the cut were to come to reality, it would make good economic sense in more senses than one.

    To start with, reducing hunger is good economics.  The prospect of cheaper rice promises that.  Then, facing down and check-mating smuggling of imported rice, the major impediment of Nigerian rice taking over the market stalls; and driving down the price.  If you can banish hunger and as well banish rice smuggling, that would be a master stroke indeed.

    Hardball must also note that the Federal Government’s rice strategy, at least as enunciated by Chief Ogbeh, is food subsidy of sorts.  By making available inputs, at little or no cost to the farmer, the actual product becomes cheaper; and the market (buyer) is the winner.

    But the buyer is only one arm of the market.  The seller is the other.  So, every subsidy worth its while must not leave the farmer holding the short end of the stick.  That could demotivate and dry up the supply end of the chain.  That can only give rice smuggling renewed life.

    But far more important: subsidy has a terrible record here — unsubsidized corruption!  It was, during the swindle called petroleum subsidy.  It was, also during the racket of fertilizer subsidy.  So, everything must be done not to, in the euphoria of cheaper rice, birth another soulless bout of corruption.

    Rice, o compatriots!  But only wholesome rice without subsidy racketeering!

  • Ogun customs seizes N115m smuggled vehicles, rice, poultry products

    Men of the Ogun Customs Area Command have intercepted seven posh cars, bags of rice and frozen chicken worth a sum of N48 million from suspected smugglers.

    The vehicles are: 2011 Ford Edge SUV, 2006 Toyota Highlander, Audi 80,Nissan Sunny, 2015 C300 Mercedes Benz, 2013 Toyota Highlander and a Toyota Sienna space bus.

    Disclosing this to newsmen at the Idiroko Customs Area Command, Comptroller Sani Madugu said his men intercepted the goods from smugglers who fled on sighting operatives of the Command.

    He said: ‘’We have a total of seven cars seized from the smugglers who abandoned the vehicles and fled when they sighted our men within the Idiroko axis. The vehicles are keyless and five out of them carried various prohibited goods and these items are going to be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

    “Also, we have equally seized 20 bags of granulated sugar and 42 kegs of groundnut oil totalling over N48 million Duty Paid Value(DPV). At Abeokuta, a truck loaded with imported cartons of poultry products belonging to a cement manufacturing company with a Duty Payable Value (DPV) of N67.5million.

    “The truck was intercepted on Saturday at about 3:45 a.m at the Sagamu Interchange end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The driver of the truck, on sighting our men ran away, but his partner was arrested. The command also intercepted two Sport Utility Vehicles and seized 17 kilogrammes of cannabis smuggled into the country from the Benin Republic.

    The cannabis has since been handed over to the Ogun State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

    Speaking further, Madugu said: ‘’The war against smuggling is a total one in Ogun State. The officers and men are committed to their duty including the Area Controller. The Deputy Controller (Enforcement) goes on patrol with a term of dedicated officers and I usually go round to supervise what they are doing.

    “We are redoubling our efforts and it is a continuous exercise in the Ogun Area Command. What we are doing to tackle smuggling so far is giving us good results and that is why we are here to showcase the seizures we have made. You can see the number of prohibited goods that people are trying to bring into the country. I want to advise the public to come forward and pay their duty to customs on non-

     

  • Ogun to sell branded rice

    Ogun State government has concluded plans to release locally-produced branded rice by December.

    Its Commissioner for Agriculture, Mrs. Adepeju Adebajo, disclosed this during an inspection of the first phase of rice harvested in one of its farms at Eggua in Yewa North Local Government Area of the state.  According to her, it forms part of the measures to ensure food security.

    Adebajo said the state had begun harvesting 30 hectares of the 100 hectares of rice farm, and it would be ready for distribution by December, after all due processes had been followed.

    Aside, hundreds of hectares of rice plantations are said to be on the verge of being harvested at the IFAD Value Chain and FADAMA farms across the state.

    She said: “The rice will be of the best quality because the government provided the farmers with most improved variety of seedlings. They will be in our local Ofada, Nerica and Faro 44.

    A farmer, Olugbenga Popoola thanked the state government for land clearing, provision of improved seedlings and fertilisers, among others.

  • LCCI: Review rice tariff to curb smuggling

    LCCI: Review rice tariff to curb smuggling

    The Federal Government should consider a downward review of the tariff on rice to curb its smuggling, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has said.

    Its Director-General, Mr. Muda Yusuf, said rice smuggling has continued to thrive, in spite of the ban on the commodity, due to high import tariff.

    “Rice is not contraband, you can import rice. What has created the smuggling problem with rice is the tariff and that is what is driving the smuggling. If you take it through the port irrespective of where you source your forex from, you have to pay 70 per cent levy.

    “If you have a product coming through the official channel at 70 per cent, there cannot be better incentive to smuggling than that. So, that is why rice is coming from all over the place,” Yusuf said, in Lagos, during the week.

    He dismissed the claim by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, that the country would be self sufficient in rice production and would no longer import rice by 2018 as mere academic and not in tune with reality.

    His words: “The Minister said we will be self sufficient in rice production in 2018, but that is just academic. There is nothing on ground empirically. It is desirable, but in terms of empirical evidence, I don’t think it is something achievable.

    “If you do a proper and empirical assessment of the rice market today, the market share of smuggled rice is bigger than the share of rice that is produced locally. So, this is part of the trade policy challenges that we have.

    “It is a popular thing to say that we have to grow rice; the import duty should be high so that we can grow local rice. It is a very patriotic statement to make, but the reality is completely different and policy should align with reality so that we don’t just make policies in vain.”

    The LCCI boss said it was important that the government policy makers got their facts right. “I have heard some government officials say the bulk of the rice in the country is Nigerian rice but that is not correct. The moment we start thinking that way, then we will not do what we need to do,” he said.

    According to him, what is required is to deploy policies to improve productivity in rice production.