THE Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, recently said that the country would achieve self-sufficiency in rice production in 2018. He made the promise at the 8th Tinubu Colloqium held in honour of the National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in Abuja, on the occasion of his 64th birthday.
Represented at the event by the Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr. Heineken Lokpobiri, Ogbeh declared: “we intend to achieve self-sufficiency in tomato paste by the end of this year and in rice, maize and soya beans by the end of 2018 as well as wheat by 2019.”
The minister explained that the Federal Government is committed to improving the quality of farm yields in Nigeria and has designed an ambitious programme to supply 15 per cent of the European market with quality fruits and vegetables. Part of the government’s strategy for meeting the specified targets include the drawing up of the Nigerian soil map to enable farmers make better decisions on inputs for maximum productivity.
We commend the minister for these laudable objectives. We must, however, mention that past governments have at one time or the other made similar promises, but keeping the promises and meeting the targets have been elusive. Indeed, his immediate predecessor, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, now President of the African Development Bank, was quite certain that the importation of rice would end in Nigeria in 2015, but this never happened.
Since government is a continuum, what we expect is an explanation of why rice production in the country is short of domestic demand in 2016, given the promise and optimism of the last administration. This is necessary because barring the brief periods of uncertainty about rice importation through land borders, the frequent tinkering with tariffs for imported rice and the disputes with rice importers on Customs duty payments, the country’s rice production policy seems to have held steady since 2012. The current government should, therefore, determine why the former government failed to meet the target and design better strategies to achieve the objective.
Rice is a very important product in the nation’s food supply chain. Its price is often the benchmark by which many Nigerians measure inflation of food prices. The ministry must, therefore, strike a balance between protecting domestic producers and protecting the consumers. We urge the ministry to maintain a consistent policy and ensure that those organisations which have been granted incentives to raise rice production are faithful to the targets. Above all, the current economic outlook offers an opportunity to return agriculture to its premier spot as an engine of growth not only in the creation of gainful employment but as a foreign exchange earner.
The Federal Government should push the diversification of the economy from wishful thinking to practical and visible efforts. And, the best place to begin is to build on the efforts of the past administration by helping the small farmers with extension services, inputs like seeds, fertiliser, funding, and rural infrastructure.
Nigeria’s rich agricultural history lends support to the view that self-sufficiency in rice production is easily achievable. The country is said to have more than three million hectares of land that is suitable for rice farming, of which less than five per cent is currently being utilised. Even more hectares are located deep in the rural areas which are practically unreachable because there are no access roads.
We urge the minister to hold a strategy session with all the state ministries of agriculture to develop a unified plan, exchange ideas and set targets as well as monitoring mechanisms for periodic evaluation of efforts. Efforts should be made to see that we can grow rice all year round as happens in many countries. The ministry should also strive to bring more land under irrigation, to address the challenge of our long dry season.
Now that Ogbeh has set a new deadline, we appeal to him to do everything in his power to ensure that this promise is kept and that Nigeria no longer spends N1 billion every month, as it does now, importing rice from January 2019.