FG Admits Loss Of N1 Billion Daily to Rice Importation

…Promises To End  Rice Importation Soon

Even though it admits that a whopping N1Billion is lost daily to importation of rice, the Federal Government has also assured that the end is near for importation of the staple food item into Nigeria.
Special Adviser to the President on the New Partnership for Africa's Development, NEPAD and African Peer Review Mechanism, APRM, Mrs. Fidelia Akuabata Njeze, admitted the loss at a recent one day  stakeholders forum on the establishment of the Nigeria/ECOWAS rice sector policy and regulation advocacy platform held in Abuja.She also added that due to the importation of rice, Nigeria has been exporting jobs and financial resources meant for the transformation of the domestic rice sector in the country.
But her counterpart in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has assured that “Nigeria is already at the exit door from its importation”.
The Minister said this while inspecting a 420-hectare rice farm and mill belonging to Olam Nigeria in Rukubi, near Doma, Nasarawa State.
He said 2.9 million metric tons of high quality milled rice was expected to be produced beginning from 2014 farming season.
The minister added that with importation at about 1.9 to 2.0 million metric tons per annum, rice importation would soon stop.
“We are going to be Thailand of Africa in terms of rice production and export,” Dr. Adesina said.
The minister stated that no fewer than 670,000 jobs were created in 2013 through rice production.
He said 1.9 million metric tonnes of rice was produced in the 2013 dry and wet seasons, contributing N320 billion to the GDP and creating 670,000 jobs in the process.
The minister said the Federal Government was putting in place the enabling environment for production of rice on small, medium and large-scale through its Growth Enhancement Support scheme (GES) for the rice value chain under the Agriculture Transformation Agenda (ATA) launched in 2011.
In addition to seed and extension support to farmers, the minister said the government has provided subsidised inputs and mechanization services through Agricultural Equipment Hiring Service (AEHE) for which financing support is accessible through the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) and Bank of Industry (BOI).
Dr. Adesina said 15 rice and other staple crop processing zones would be set up at various locations in Nigeria, with a projected contribution of $9.0 billion to the GDP.
According to him, 1.9 million metric tonnes of the commodity were produced in the 2013 dry and wet seasons, contributing N320 billion to the GDP and creating 670,000 jobs in the process.
“The Ministry’s “rice revolution” is gaining momentum with a projected 2.9 million metric tonnes of rice in 2014,” he said. The Minister stated that with importation at about 1.9 to 2.0 million metric tonnes per annum, Nigeria was now at the exit door of importation. “We are going to be Thailand of Africa in terms of rice production and export,” Adesina said.
Nigeria has also seen other prime players investing in the rice value chain as multinational conglomerate, Stallion Group, has established fully integrated agricultural operations including world-class rice mills at strategic locations to promote milling and paddy cultivation in the captive areas. The group has fully backward integrated its rice value chain namely production, procurement through collection centre, association with co-operatives and farmers, logistic and post-harvest services, marketing and acting as a catalyst toward sustainable growth.
Stallion now operates a fully integrated state-of-the-art rice mill in the country with an aggregate capacity of 360,000 metric tonnes per annum and is producing premium varieties of rice from local paddy being marketed under the names, “Royal Stallion Shinkafa” and “Super Champion’’ which are now very popular in the country.http://shippingposition.com.ng/article/fg-admits-loss-n1-billion-daily-rice-importation