The story of Nigerian rice

For many years now, foreign or imported rice has been the main menu on many family tables. While this lasted, the local brands were relegated to the background to the extent that some Nigerians saw eating foreign imported rice as a form of status symbol. This attitude of treasuring anything foreign above locally produced items has always been the bane of the country’s economy. Rice farmers under the umbrella of The Rice Processors Association of Nigeria, RIPAN, recently cried out to President Muhammadu Buhari, who appeared to have finally taken up the gauntlet by ordering the partial closure of Nigerian borders to stifle the activities of smugglers. Though this move has been met with some hues and cries in some quarters, however, many believe it is the right step in the right direction if the country must be free from the unwanted statistics of being the second-highest importer of rice, globally, BABAJIDE OKEOWO writes.

ere smuggled into Nigeria through the country various porous borders. These alarming statistics were reeled out by the Rice Processors Association of Nigeria, RIPAN recently. The association further went on to accuse the officials of the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS posted at the borders of colluding with smugglers to commit what it described as economic sabotage against the policy of the Federal Government to make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice production.

Nigeria’s rice imports rose by 13 percent in 2018 to 3.4m tones, making the country world’s biggest rice importer only after China according to data obtained by The Nigerian Xpress from the US Department of Agriculture.

The reason for this is not farfetched. Rice is among the most important staples of Nigerian life. It accounts for about 10 percent of household food spending, according to research conducted by PriceWater House Cooper, PwC.

Recently and in order to find a lasting solution to the menace of rice smuggling in the country, Members of the Rice Processors Association of Nigeria, RIPAN, paid a visit to the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu to seek the assistance of the graft-fighting body on the menace of smugglers. The Vice Chairman of the body, Paul Eluhaiwe, said the smugglers have forced some of them to close down their local production plants. He said many of them who used to produce 10 trucks were now producing only two trucks as a result of the smugglers.

“In the current situation in which we have found ourselves, we have to cut down on our staff, close part of our operations and manage to keep afloat since the smugglers have continued to ship in expired and unhealthy rice into the country through land borders across the country.

“We have come to EFCC to discuss with them on the dangers of rice smuggling into Nigeria via many routes in the federation. It has been happening and it is getting worse that we can no longer sell our rice since January this year. It has gotten to a point that all Nigerians must stand up to do something about the uncontrolled smuggling of rice into the country, a dangerous trend that is directly killing the local rice production plants and farmers,” he lamented.

At the meeting, Magu regretted that the country is losing huge revenues, foreign exchange, and jobs, as local rice processing companies are shutting down because of their inability to access the market.

The above lamentation sums up the threat smugglers pose to local production of rice in the country.

Rice smuggling all the way

Rice smugglers have devised ingenuous ways of smuggling through Nigeria’s porous land borders. Millions of bags of smuggled rice make their way into the country weekly especially from the Republic of Benin via Seme Border and Idiroko borders. Instead of using trucks or lorries to bring in the commodity, the smugglers have since devised the means of using motor bikes popularly called Okada to convey the bags of rice from Cotonou end into Nigeria. In one viral video on Social Media, one motorbicycle was seen loading about 10 bags of rice at once and can make 10 or more trips daily. Once the bags are inside the country, there are already buyers waiting to take deliveries and so in this process, Nigeria is daily flooded with smuggled rice.

According to RIPAN’s Chairman, Mohammed Abubakar Maifata, the gains so far recorded in the rice production revolution in the country, particularly the intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through the Anchor Borrower Programme (ABP), could be jeopardised by the activities of smugglers if not confronted head-on by government. He further raised the fear that investors in Nigeria who have made an enormous financial commitment in the rice sub-sector are constantly threatened by the activities of smugglers which is a threat to the industry’s total development.

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RIPAN then appealed to the Federal Government to save the industry from the activities of rice smugglers who were beginning to threaten the Federal Government financing policy through the agricultural value chain single digit interest rate programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

New lease of life for rice farmers

However, not long after, President Muhammadu Buhari directed a partial closure of Nigeria’s western border with the Benin Republic to curb rice smuggling that is threatening the country’s attempt to boost local production. The action many agreed has changed the narration on rice smuggling and production in the country.

There is a steady increase in production – Report

Nigeria’s rice output has of late been on the increase, thanks to special loan schemes like the Anchor Borrowers Programme, ABP of the Central Bank of Nigeria. The broad objective of the ABP is to create economic linkage between smallholder farmers and reputable large-scale processors to increase agricultural output and significantly improving capacity utilization of processors. For instance, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has set up a $130m initiative by offering farmers who have at least 1 hectare of land loans at a 9% interest rate, which is below the benchmark interest rate of 14%. The World Bank has also funded several schemes in Nigeria to help boost agriculture, including centers offering equipment and machines at greatly subsidised higher prices to farmers.

These efforts are starting to show results. According to a US Department of Agriculture report, production hit a record 3.78m tonnes last year up by roughly 60 per cent since 2013.

Amidst some grumbling, Nigerians urged to embrace locally produced rice

From a set of people who have become accustomed to foreign parboiled rice, the transition from the foreign rice to locally produced rice has not been that smooth. But amidst call from different stakeholders and sensitisation programmes, many Nigerians are beginning to embrace the locally produced rice while commending the government on the move.

According to Simisoluwa Ogundana, she and her family are used to the imported rice and it is taking a lot of determination to get used to the locally produced rice.

“I commend the Federal Government on this directive. It is difficult at first but as time goes on, I am getting used to the locally produced rice. Now that it is readily available in the market and quite affordable, I think me and my family will continue to patronize the locally made rice” she told The Nigerian Xpress.

Similarly, the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS has called on Nigerians to give locally produced rice a chance while enumerating the dangers associated with the consumption of imported and smuggled rice.

“Any rice that is not produced locally in Nigeria is smuggled rice and they are poisonous. Firstly, no rice is imported into this country that has not spent a minimum of five years in the silos. Secondly, some chemicals must have been added to it to preserve its freshness and that chemical is harmful and thirdly, when you see the bags, it is a fraud. They re-bag the rice on the high sea and in the Benin Republic, they change the bag and a new date is printed on the bags and this is what we consume here and when many Nigerians end up with colon cancer, we begin to wonder how it happened. I appeal to Nigerians to patronise our locally made, indigenous rice, it is available, it is more nutritious and if you do that, you would have assisted Customs in ensuring that these smugglers are put out of business’ he said.

Local rice manufacturing firms are strengthened, re-energised

Following the partial closure of the border by the Federal Government, many indigenous rice producers who have hitherto been crumbling under the weight and stifling operating condition foisted upon them by the smuggled and imported rice are heaving a sigh of relief and are buoyed by this latest development.

Vice President Corporate and Government Relations, Olam Nigeria, Ade Adefeko has lauded the decision to close the borders even temporarily and reiterated his company’s readiness to enhance domestic food security through scaling up rice cultivation.

He revealed that Olam has developed a 13,500 hectare fully irrigated paddy farm on Greenfield site in Ondorie, Nasarawa State and that the yield is close to 10 MT per hectare (over two annual crop cycles), based on four varieties of high-yield rice tested with the West African Rice Development Association. Furthermore, 4,450 hectares are already under cultivation, with a further 3,000 hectares in the pipeline. Adefeko also disclosed that up to 1000 workers are employed on the farm depending on seasonality. He added that at the heart of the rice farm is a mechanised rice milling facility which includes the state of the art mill which incorporates Satake milling technology and Italian parboiling technology.

“The rice-growing communities in Nasarawa, Benue, Taraba, and Kaduna States are supported by OLAM with group formation, training and all agri-inputs on credit to improve their paddy yields and revenues with assured buyback system at the prevailing market prices,” he said.

On his part, the Chairman of Elephant Group, Dr. Tunji Owoeye in an earlier interview revealed that the nation has capacity to feed her citizens especially in the area of rice.

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He also acknowledged that the demand for local rice has increased tremendously since the border was closed and he urged the Federal government to sustain the closure of the borders for the development of the local rice industry.

“Without any doubt, it has increased demand for our products and reduced our stockholding cost considerably This is assisting most operators across the value chain to meet our commitment The border closure should be sustained. This move will encourage local production and motivate us to increase our investment in the value chain” he said.

Speaking further, he called for the support of consumers and maintained that if the closure is sustained, Nigeria will bridge the gap between production and consumption.

“Consumers should make sacrifices for now by patronising only local production within the next one year gap will be closed between production and consumption if this ban is sustained. We plan to increase our capacity across the federation if this is upheld and we begin to plan for export in the medium term. The impact on the health of Nigerians cannot be overlooked as this will increase the life expectancy of our teeming consumers considering the nutrition value in our local but very competitive quality rice” he added.

Similarly, Amarava Rice Mill, an indigenous milling company in Kano has also expressed the commitment to double its production capacity by the last quarter of 2019.

The Kano-based Amarava Rice Mill, which is the first end-to-end made-in-Nigeria rice mill (conceived, designed, manufactured, executed and installed using only Nigerian material and human resources), was commissioned in 2017 by President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to the Chairman, Fullmark Group (parent company of Amarava Agro Processors Limited), Sriram Venkateswaran, the drive to boost capacity is geared towards promoting government diversification effort, reduce independence on the importation of rice and improve food security.

“Currently, we produce 250 metric tonnes of rice per day, and with the coming expansion of our millers, we are set to double this capacity. This serves as a positive reinforcement for our local rice farmers because they will increase the hectares used for rice cultivation. Not only that, we are engaging more farmers who will be directly involved in the cultivation process, thereby boosting the agricultural productivity of the Nigerian economy,” he noted.

Locally made rice now visible in most markets- Investigation

A routine trip to some markets and stores around Lagos reveal the availability of locally produced rice contrary to what was obtainable in the past. Stacks of Mama Pride, Mama Gold, Mama Africa all from the stables of Olam Nigeria Limited are on display. Lake Rice, Abakiliki, Kebbi and Anambra rice are some of the popular locally grown rice available in the market.

As pressure mounts internally and externally on the Nigerian government to reopen its closed borders, it is left to be seen if the Federal Government will bow to the pressure or if it has put enough measures in place to ensure that the gains of the exercise are not lost again.