The Rice Millers, Importers and Distributors Association of Nigeria, have backed the banning of the importation of rice through land borders by the Federal Government, saying the policy will remove the major problems local producers are facing.
Speaking through its President, Tunji Owoeye, the association said the policy would boost diversification of the nation’s economy.
Owoeye said the key challenge to the rice farmers in the country had been removed by the government with the reversal of the earlier policy which allowed importation of rice through the land borders.
ccording to him, “This was our stand before, but the Federal Government claimed that we should allow goods to move freely within ECOWAS countries into Nigeria.
“Again, government believed that our much needed revenues would be generated from land borders. Meanwhile, from our experience, we let the government know then that we didn’t have the resources to manage to align with the rice coming through the border because we have many unmanned borders through which illegal importation could be done.”
Owoeye revealed that the governments at both the Federal and State levels had also been supportive with local farmers along the rice value chain through various intervention funds.
He added that through the intervention, many collapsed rice mills across the nation had been revived and were operational in full capacity.
Apart from the policy reversal, Owoeye disclosed that the governments at both the federal and state levels had also been supporting local farmers along the rice value chain with various intervention funds.
He added that through the intervention, many moribund rice mills across the country had been revived and were fully operational.
