Rice farmers under the aegis of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) have concluded plans to crash the price of rice with the launch of the one million bags of rice paddy stacked as pyramids in Abuja.
The rice from the pyramid, which is a collaboration between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and RIFAN, will be allocated to the processors for processing, and then will be subsequently sold at discounted prices.
According to NAN, this was made known on Tuesday in Abuja by the Chairman, Pyramid Sub Committee of RIFAN, Mr Shehu Muazu, who said that the rice pyramid would show that local production of food is possible.
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What the Chairman, Pyramid Sub Committee of RIFAN is saying
Muazu said that immediately after the unveiling of the pyramid, the CBN and RIFAN will allocate the rice to the processors.
He said, “RIFAN in collaboration with the Rice Millers Association of Nigeria will process the rice and sell at a discounted price. This will lead to drastic reduction in price once it starts rolling into the market.
“Our collaboration with the millers association rests on the agreement that they will sell at a discounted price to Nigerians.
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“Although, we cannot talk of price in isolation as far as prices all over the world are concerned because all over the world prices of food have gone up.
“But the good news is that rice will remain the cheapest commodity as far as food is concerned due to the success recorded through the scheme.’’
He also pointed out that the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) which was designed to assist small scale farmers, is a reflection of the federal government’s efforts aimed at tackling food security.
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Muazu said, “We have over one million bags of paddy rice which were collected from the beneficiaries of the ABP under the business strategy partnership. Benefiting farmers who received the loan, which came in the form of farm inputs and cash, repay with rice paddy of same value.
“The significance of this rice pyramid is to showcase the achievement of government as far as agriculture is concerned and to call on Nigerian corporations to queue into investments in agriculture. If the poor Nigerian farmers can do this then the rich people can do more than this.’’
What you should know
It was earlier reported that President Muhammadu Buhari, is expected to unveil the CBN mega Rice Pyramids in Abuja. The mega rice pyramids project, which has been described as the largest in the world, is a collaboration of the CBN with the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN).
They were enabled by the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP). The CBN stated that the ABP, since its inauguration in November 2015, had increased the average yield of rice per hectare from 1.8 metric tonnes to five metric tonnes, while discouraging importation of the commodity.
1 million bags of Rice paddy if milled will not give you up to 400,000 bags of refined bags of Rice. This is approximately what 10 restaurants in Lagos alone can finish exhaust in 1 month talk more of the whole country benefiting from it. RIFAN chairman lied?
While there is a lot of opportunities in the Agric sector most especially Rice farming but 1 million bags of Rice disrupting the prices of Rice in the market is a fat LIE.