Blames paddy dealers for high price of rice bag

 By Gabriel Ewepu – Abuja

The Federal Government, weekend, disclosed two tractor assembly plants to be established in the country to boost agricultural mechanization and also to create 500 jobs.

This was made known by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammed Nanono, during an interactive session with agricultural correspondents under the auspices of Agric Correspondents Association of Nigeria, ACAN, in Abuja.

Nanono further explained that the National Assembly has finalized issues on the mechanization project and soon will fully take-off in order to galvanise the sector towards boosting food security and creating employment.

He said: “On mechanization timeline-this is what we are doing for the last six years. There is a lot of going back and forth, I think last year that was around May-June.

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“The process was going on until last week we finalized with the National Assembly. I think the next two weeks will release the budget, and that is the only thing we are waiting for.

“Once we get that because we have already set in motion the process of mechanization, and also bring in two tractor assembly plants where we will engage 500 people directly for job and we are on course.”

However, the Minister blamed high price of rice bag in the market on paddy dealers who have allegedly hoarded paddy rice from most rice millers.

He said, “There are a lot of paddy rice across the country but it is under lock and key and they won’t let it out, and people are saying the government should intervene.

“But there is no need for government to intervene because the market forces will work. What we will do as government is to invest heavily in rice and maize farming and we are close to doing that.

“The amount spent in dry season farming is enough to turn things around and to bring the price of rice down.”

He further stated that, “We can produce the rice we can eat and the other is for export. We have 52 rice milling plants in this country and more are coming on board apart from other clusters of rice milling plants across the country, and from nowhere we became number 13 in global rice production with 100, 000 tonnes of milled rice per day

“We have to take fundamental decision, one, we eat our own rice, and I tell you our own rice is better than imported rice-most of the imported rice are consumed by those in the north because they clamour for it but those in the South eat rice produced in the country.”

However, on the current high prices of food across the country, he (Nanono) said, “One of the problems we as a nation is having is that we don’t have a food price board or policy.

“I think we should have price policy on fundamental crops like rice, maize, sorghum, millet, and let me tell you, in fact, there two political commodities in this country, which is rice and maize.

“Rice is predominantly a food of the elites when they are pricked they start to talk and bark, and nobody barks on sorghum and millet because they are for the poor, especially for those in the up north. Nobody also talks about yam price and others.”

Meanwhile, the Minister assured that a lot is being done to boost livestock production as investors are already indicating interest in beef and pasture productions.

“We are also doing a lot in pastures, genetic improvement of our cattle, and a host of other things. We are also relating well with donor agencies as we engage with them in advancing the course of livestock development in this country.

“For this subsector is now attracting investors in direct production of beef and commercial pasturing. Also state governments are taking steps on their own in this direction”, he stated.

He also expressed optimism that in the next one year price of fertilizers will crash based on the massive investment on fertilizer production by Aliko Dangote, whose plant will soon come on stream and high prices of the commodity will fizzle out.

“In the next one year this issue of price on fertilizer will just fizzle out. Dangote is coming with complete package on fertilizer and farmers will get fertilizer on time to their farmers”, he added.

On infrastructural development, according to the Minister’s explanation a lot is going on to link communities and farmers including markets, “We have done remarkably well including in the West, like in the rural roads project we have embarked on, and I didn’t realize the impact the rural roads would make but what is important for us is reaching the grassroots which is to connect market-to-market, farms-to-farms.”

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Speaking on the issue of farmers’ data base he disclosed that over 5 million farmers have been registered with proper digital identification, which can be verified on the website of the data base and also direct confirmation from the farmers.

According to him the target is 10 million farmers to be captured, which the Federal Ministry of Finance is seriously supporting to actualize it.

“On database of farmers, over the last decade there has been attempts to have database for farmers. In fact, during this present administration the government was left of liability of N69 trillion for registering farmers. Not more than 100, 000 in the data.

“Today, we have registered of about 5.7 million farmers across the country; from their ward, local government to farms with digital identity cards, telephone number, and digital number. Farmers can be called to confirm this.

“We have spent only N47 million, and the Ministry of Finance is giving us more money to register farmers with the target of 10 million. In two weeks we will clear it, and there is a website for the database of farmers across the country”, he said.

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