Steve Agbota; [email protected] 08033302331
When President Muhammadu Buhari was away on medical vacation in 2017 in United Kingdom, he transmitted power to his Vice, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo to oversee the affairs of the country as acting President.
Consequently Osibanjo as acting president in his presentation at the second annversary of the government raise the hopes of millions of Nigerians that the country was on its way to rise self sufficency.
According to Osibanjo: “I am delighted to note that since 2015 our imports of rice have dropped by 90 percent, while domestic production has almost tripled. Our goal is to produce enough rice to meet local demand by 2019. All of these are evidences that we are taking very seriously our ambition of agricultural self-sufficiency. “The critical points that we must address fully in the next two years are: Agriculture and food security, Energy, (power and Petroleum,) Industrialization and Transport infrastructure.”
On that occasion President Buhari said his administration has reduced rice importation by 90 per cent. This means that 10 per cent importation of rice was still coming into the country.
But industry watchers who are close to Nigerian borders told Daily Sun that Buhari is partially right that rice importation dropped by 90 per cent relates to rice coming from Thailand while the importation from Cameroon, Benin Republic and Niger Republic has increased by 100 per cent.
Though, the President received praises from a cross section of Nigerian farmers for putting some policies in place to develop the agric sector and ensure that people go back to farm excited, other farmers with different opinions said the President has done little in the development of agric sector to earn their praises. They said that the president has not delivered 30 per cent of what he promised as political bigwigs under Buhari’s watch have hijacked most of the policies.
For instance, the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) they argued no longer has significant effects as corruption was eating deep into the programme because the loans are not getting to the right farmers but political farmers. However, farmers described the rice policy as a fluke.
Recently, investigation carried out in five states, which include Lagos, Ekiti, Kebbi, Kaduna and Ebonyi – and in neighbouring Benin Republic, revealed that the ABP, which was touted as the answer to Nigeria’s quest for self-sufficiency in rice production, has failed in most places with the government unable to recoup a large chunk of the N55 billion loan already disbursed.
The ABP has given rise to a multitude of angry farmers who claim the programme has been hijacked by local politicians who disburse funds to fake farmers and has become a means for political patronage, our investigation uncovered.
Efforts by the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) to salvage the programme is merely slogging by, as complaints of the supply of expired herbicide, bad seeds and other challenges are threatening to derail it.
Speaking to Daily Sun, an Agribusiness & Youth Empowerment Coordinator, Community of Agricultural Stakeholders of Nigeria (CASON), Sotonye Anga,said the administration has done well but there is plenty of room for better performane.
He added: “We are glad all over the country, that Nigerians can see significant reduction in the price of rice, which is the major staple food. The cost has gone down reasonably and that’s a plus for the administration. Other things that need strong improvement include the unlocking funding to agriculture, agriculture finance is still low, farmers has not really got the most when it comes to financing agriculture.
“When you are talking about boosting production, you have to master significant financing especially in this time of climate change, we need a whole lot of investment, technology that will promote climate smart agriculture. So farmers need to be better equipped to face the changing time, to face the change in climatic time. There is a lot more room for improvement. The administration has tried but we are asking them to do a lot more,” he added. On the claims of 90 per cent drop on importation of rice by Buhari, he said the rice are still smuggling in from Benin Republic, might send Nigerian farmers of out business.
He explained: “I have traveled across the country. Right now in Ogun State, if you go to places across the border, you will see crazy movement of rice from Benin Republic into Nigeria. I think the Customs and other security apparatuses positioned across our border towns should be able to reduce the influx of rice into the country because, the obvious truth is that, they still smuggle rice in those very small vehicles.
“When you stand and watch, you see several hundreds and thousands of vehicles moving into Nigeria. You will begin to wonder how does this thing happen! Where are our Custom officers, the immigration, police, our security agency? I don’t want to make comment on security agency. We need to do more on border control. These are reality because if they continue to bring imported rice, our rice farmers across Nigeria are not secured because the imported rice sell as low as N7000 and N8000 per 60 kilo bag.”
He said if rice brought in from Benin Republic, Niger and Cameroon and is coming into Nigeria, selling between N7000 to N8000 per kilo bag, how would the rice farmers in Nigeria stand this type of competition?
He hinted that the truth is that farmers cannot stand it if the importation continues and it would be disincentive for rice farmers across the country, adding that there will be no need to grow rice anymore.
An Agric Business Coach, AfricanFarmer Mogaji said the current administration has tried to implement some things but they have not followed up with robust monitoring and evaluation. For instance, rice, which the President said his administration has been able to cut down importation of some products to about 90 per cent.
He added: “That is document they gave him, which is partially right. Partially right, we are talking about rice. Rice importation has reduced by like 90 per cent but rice importation from Benin Republic, Niger Republic and Cameroon has increased to well over 100 per cent. These countries don’t eat our type of rice they eat small, small of rice. So if they don’t eat our rice and their import has gone to over 100 per cent from those three borders. Where is the rice coming forward to? It is coming into Nigeria.”
“Yes, they have tried in terms of the rice at open market but the different is not significant in terms of reduction in price. So there is no significant reduction in price. So why the President will be saying 90 per cent but I don’t blame the President, it was the document they gave to him, which is partially right that rice importation from Thailand to Nigeria has dropped by 90 per cent but they are not telling him that the remaining borders around Nigeria have been increased by 100 per cent.”
He the Buhari’s administration has put in a good policy, like the Anchor Borrower Programme (ABP), which is a very good one but no monitoring and evaluation, which is a new imitative.