By Christy Anyanwu, Olakunle Olafioye, Agatha Emeadi (Lagos), Chidubem Ikechukwu and Chisom Ezugwu (Enugu)
The dream of Nigerians to see the much touted Federal Government’s rice pyramids translate to surplus and cheaper rice across the country is fast fading away and giving way to despair as the commodity has remained far beyond the reach of the masses six months after the unveiling of the local rice pyramids in Abuja. 
In the markets, dealers and consumers of rice are lamenting the scarcity and prohibitive cost of local rice, blaming the situation on the high patronage foreign rice still enjoys in the country.
President Muhammadu Buhari had in January unveiled rice pyramids reportedly harvested by farmers who benefited from the Anchor Borrowers initiative of the government to expand their production.
The government claimed that the low-interest loans helped more than double the average yield of rice and maize in the country and raised the hope of ending the country’s dependence on rice imports.
The rice pyramid which was said to be the farmers’ way of paying back the loans, it was revealed, was to be sold by the Central Bank of Nigeria at below market rates to reduce the price consumers had been paying for the commodity.
The Anchor Borrowers Programme was launched in 2015 by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The plan provides rice farmers with loans and technical advice aimed at expanding the production of rice and increase yields while limiting the nation’s dependence on imports.
At the unveiling of the rice pyramids, President Buhari had expressed the hope that growers of other agricultural produce would emulate the Rice Farmers’ Association of Nigeria in supporting his administration’s drive for food sufficiency.
But six months after the unveiling of the pyramids, rice dealers and consumers said that locally grown rice remains a rarity in the nation’s food markets as foreign rice still dominates them.
The majority of the dealers who spoke to Sunday Sun cited the price of locally grown rice as the major reason they do not stock their shops with the commodity.
A dealer, Mrs Morenikeji Lawal, said that she stopped stocking her shop with locally grown rice in March since most Nigerians prefer foreign rice to the local variety.
Her words: “There isn’t much difference between our (Nigerian) rice and imported rice when comparing their prices. The last time I stocked my shop with local rice it took me months before I could sell it because the people, the majority of whom are already used to foreign rice, did not see any significant reason they should buy locally grown rice which sold at almost the same price with the foreign rice.
“We sold a bag of foreign rice for N26, 500 while a bag of local rice was N25, 800. The slight difference, then was only noticeable if you were buying a bag or half a bag. At the time a Derica (tin measure) of foreign rice was sold for N420 that of local rice was N410. So, the majority of our people would rather go for the foreign variety, unmindful of the N10 difference between the foreign rice and the locally grown rice.”
Another rice dealer, who simply identified himself as Fidelis, gave a similar reason for his decision to stop stocking his shop with local rice, saying that low patronage of locally grown rice is a major disincentive to most dealers.
According to him, “Nigerians expect that the price of local rice should be cheaper compared to the price of foreign rice because it is grown in the country where the dealers don’t have to pay duty while transporting it to any part of the country, but that is not so. It is even costlier than some varieties of foreign rice. For a example, a bag of short grain foreign rice is N26,000 while the long grain variety is N30, 000, but a bag of locally grown rice is now N27, 500. Most people will rather settle for the short grain foreign than buy Nigerian rice. That is why I don’t buy local rice for now.” Findings by Sunday Sun revealed that the availability of both foreign and local rice in some parts of Lagos State with foreign rice being the more common variety.
Chuks Udegbulem, a food stuff wholesale dealer said: “There are the long and short foreign grains which are obtainable at all times, even when boarders were closed smugglers still found their way to beat the security operatives to it.”
He pointed out that “local rice remains unstable in the market, though not completely scarce as the demand is not as high as that of foreign rice.
“There are other types of local rice, but not the prevalent sought after Abakaliki rice. In Mushin Market, we are not up to four dealers that add such to stock because of its low demand and high costs.”
On the cost of the different types of rice, he said “while a bag of foreign rice costs between N34,000 and N35,000, a bag of local rice is slightly higher. One Derica (sizeable tomato can) of foreign rice costs N500 while the same quantity of local rice costs N600.”
But while rice dealers blame the exorbitant price of the commodity as the major reason for the low patronage which locally grown rice enjoys in the country, some consumers seem to have other reasons for the choice of rice they buy.
Those who patronize locally cultivated rice claimed that the taste of freshness of locally grown rice endears them to it despite the price.
Mrs Seidat Abdulraman, who described members of her family as local rice addicts, said that her experience when she worked with a major rice importer some years back was largely responsible for her preference for locally grown rice.
According to her, a larger proportion of rice imported into the country has low shelf life and may become inedible before getting to the final consumers.
“Some years ago I worked with a rice importer and in the course of my assignment, I discovered that a good chunk of rice imported into the country at the time got into the country at a time when they had almost expired. I don’t know if that has changed now, but because of that I decided to pick interest in local rice.
“That is why in my family we prefer to go for local rice as against foreign rice. Local rice tastes better and fresher. But my grouse with local rice producers is in the aspect of pricing. One expects that local rice will be cheaper than foreign rice, but that is not so. The government needs to look into this: they should go beyond announcing and mouthing their success in rice production and ensure the commodity is available and affordable to Nigerians,” she said.
Miracle Aighigbe, a restaurant owner, in Lawanson said that she sells foreign rice because “it’s a good choice for me as a caterer. There’s difference between foreign and local rice. Local rice when I cook it for white rice, it doesn’t last. It stays for few hours maximum of two to three hours and starts having funny odour. That is a bad market because customers get angry when they notice that funny odour.
“So, I stopped buying local rice and depended only on foreign rice. But foreign rice, no matter how long it takes, it doesn’t have any odour and it’s sweeter than local. I was using local rice when the foreign rice was expensive so I noticed that local doesn’t last, it gets sour.”
Mrs Stella Bibobra is of the opinion that rice millers in Nigeria need to do more to be able to compete favourably with foreign rice.
According to her, the quality of rice grown and milled in Nigeria is yet to match the quality of imported rice, a reason she gave for her preference for foreign rice.
“In fairness to rice producers in Nigeria, there are some varieties of Nigerian rice that taste better than imported rice, but one only gets to see this variety occasionally. I even heard that some dubious rice dealers re-bag this local rice with foreign bags and sell it as foreign rice. But what you get regularly from shops in the neighbourhood is rice with stones and with poor taste and sometime soggy when cooked. If we can improve on our own rice, Nigerians will patronize local rice more,” she said.
However, a good number of consumers blamed the prohibitive cost of local rice as the reason for their neglect of locally grown rice in favour of imported rice.
Those who spoke to Sunday Sun expressed disappointment at the Federal Government’s failure to flood the country with Nigerian rice months after it showcased local rice pyramids in Abuja with the promise to crash the price of the commodity.
One of them is Mr Abiona Sodehinde who expressed doubt over the genuineness of the rice pyramids on display earlier in the year.
“If what we saw in the media was actually rice pyramid and the price of local rice remains as high as we have it today, I think something is definitely wrong with the entire chain. If we have a situation where the same quantity of both local and foreign rice go for almost the same amount in the market, we shouldn’t expect Nigerians to ditch imported rice for Nigerian rice considering the fact that our taste buds are already used to foreign rice. If the government is sincere about his intention to encourage local rice farmers, it must as a matter of necessity bring down the price of local rice and make it available in every part of the country. Without doing that, it will be very difficult to discourage Nigerians from patronizing foreign rice,” Shodehinde said.
In Enugu State, the story is similar, but appears expanded. A rice dealer at Ogbete Main Market who pleaded anonymity said: “Nigerians still prefer foreign rice to local rice because of the presence of husk, dirt, stones, broken grains, low swelling capacity, poor processing and packaging of the local.”
Also giving reasons people prefer local rice to foreign one, Mr Emeka Okonkwo, a trader also at Ogbete market said that he prefers local rice because of the nutritional values.
He said: “After the ban on foreign rice, it was discovered that the price of local rice skyrocketed alongside foreign ones, which is not supposed to be because the homegrown rice is produced in our country Nigeria. If the price and processing of local rice get better a lot of people will leave foreign rice and come for the local rice.
“I plead with the Federal Government to look into the price of local rice in the country and do something about it.”
A consumer who was in the market to buy rice and who spoke on condition of anonymity said: “I prefer foreign rice because it is neat and easy to prepare and enticing to the eyes, you know the eyes eat before the mouth.
“People also prefer foreign rice because it is best for occasions like funeral, wedding, special holidays, but the traders make more gain from selling the local rice.”