If you ask, most Nigerians can hardly go a day without eating rice. Rice happens to be one of the food items that Nigerians consume the most. That is why this piece of information coming from the country’s ministry of agriculture will be a form of shock to most Nigerians.
The country’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has raised the alarm that some countries, particularly Thailand and India, are dumping rice that are as old as 15 years in the country. The minister was speaking at the 2012 annual lecture of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in Lagos. He disclosed that Nigeria had become the largest importer of rice in the world, warning that except the country embarked on aggressive import substitution programme for rice, it would be spending $150 million annually importing rice by 2050.
In the words of the minister, “A lot of the rice imported into Nigeria, especially from Thailand and India, is 10 to 15-year-old rice coming out of their strategic grain reserves. It is being dumped on our market and that is why it is so cheap. But as that happens, Nigerian rice farmers are being run out of business. Nigeria is now the largest importer of rice in the world. As our population rises, demand for rice is projected to rise from the current level of five million metric tonnes to 36 million metric tonnes by 2050… Unless Nigeria begins an aggressive import substitution programme for rice, it will spend $150 billion annually importing rice by 2050. The nation will be broke,” he warned.
Thailand, in particular, is one of the largest importers of rice into the country.
What is the average domestic rice consumption annually?What quantity do we produce?FGN should put strategy in place for domestic production of the difference in production and utilisation.Part of the strategy should include buying up excess grains from farmers for strategic storage and processing.When this goesin annual cycle more farmers will go into rice production and there will be enough for export after satisfying domestic need.
There is no 10-15 year old rice reserves from Thailand. However someone has been packaging ‘rejected” by growers Thai rice as “Quality Fragrant Thai Rice” labelled supplier Romford Essex UK this is a scam, nobody in Thailand considers this disgarded waste as edible. Chances are if they ship this rubbish into West Africa you’ll find a big bag of Class A Heroin 10 or 15 kgs inside the shipment, typical heroin mafia rip-off ideals. Complain to NATO,UN and Royal Thai Government you’ve been had over big time.