Rice farmers under the auspices of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, RIFAN, has assured Nigerians that in June 2017 a 50 kilogramme of rice bag will sell at N10, 000. This assurance was given by the National President, RIFAN, Aminu Goronyo, while speaking on the current development in the rice industry, which Goronyo disclosed that rice farmers under the association now have direct access to fertiliser.
He said:
“We have already achieved rice sufficiency in the last two years because all the rice we eat is grown here in the country. With the government through the Nigeria Customs Service on the land borders, including the high exchange rate no importer can go to other countries and import rice for profit. I assure you in the next three months a 50kg bag of rice will come down to N10, 000.“The Anchor Borrowers Scheme was conceived through collective effort by the Central Bank of Nigeria, RIFAN and other relevant key stakeholders, and we are everyday meeting with the CBN reviewing the process.”
“The research centres are there and they are being paid but they are not doing what they are supposed to because government rely on them to come up with certified seeds, and we the end users, the farmers, we know that we are not getting then real certified seed.
“Even the current Anchor Borrowers Scheme that is going on we are just managing seeds from few companies that rarely have certified seeds. Most of the seeds that are being supplied are from the companies that do not have all it takes, and we do not have other options than to use what they are giving to us. The seeds released are not up to five percent of our total requirement”,
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