Expectations that price of Nigerian grown rice would reduce in the market following the unveiling of 13 rice pyramids by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja in January have not been met as price of the commodity is still on the high side.
A recent market survey showed a slight upward trend in the price ahead Easter celebration which comes up next weekend. The 50kg bag of rice sells for between N30,000 and N33,000, while 25kg goes for between N15,000 and N17,000 in open markets and some shopping malls in Lagos.
The celebrated 13 pyramids of rice unveiled by President Buhari comprising 1.2 million units of 100kg bags of rice in Abuja on January 18, 2022, has not been able to effect massive supply for reduced prices of the commodity. The 13 pyramids were said to be the biggest on the continent with each of the pyramids containing about 115,000 bags of 100kg each.
While commissioning the pyramids, President Buhari saidß “the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) has so far supported over 4.8 million smallholder farmers across Nigeria for the production of 23 agricultural commodities including maize, rice, oil palm, cocoa, cotton, cassava, tomato and livestock, among others.
“I am aware that the bags of paddy will be moving straight from here to rice milling plants across Nigeria, which will lead to the release of processed rice to the markets by the rice millers. The measure will aid our efforts at reducing the price of rice in Nigeria,” the president said.
According to him, before his administration launched the ABP, “there were only 15 standard rice mills in Nigeria. As of today, we have over 50 standard and integrated rice mills creating jobs and reducing unemployment. We expect additional significant output when two new mills are started in Lagos and Katsina. I am also aware that because of the large margins in this business, more people are showing interest in investing in our agribusiness,” he noted.
Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed that the apex bank had invested N1 trillion to empower at least 4,489,786 rural farmers through intervention financing leveraging its flagship programme, the ABP.
Emefiele said, “the programme has developed an ecosystem among all nodes of the agricultural value chain and these linkages can be better optimised through synergy among all stakeholders. As at the end of December 2021, we have financed 4,489,786 farmers that cultivated 5,300,411 hectares across 21 commodities through 23 participating financial institutions in the 36 states of the federation and FCT.”
Emefiele noted that the launched mega pyramids represent aggregated paddy rice submitted as repayment of loans by RIFAN farmers under the 2020 dry season and 2021 wet seasons, adding that the event also symbolised the efforts made by farmers to commit to loan repayment through produce submission and ultimately ensure the sustainability of the programme.