• Friday, March 29, 2024
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‘Milling companies are the obstacle to cheaper local rice’

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Despite the rhetoric on increasing rice production, the price of local rice remains considerably high, even when found in the markets. However, the cost of paddy, which is essentially the raw material, has been on the decline for about three years now.

 Siddik Abdullahi, chairman, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Kwara state chapter, in a chat with Caleb Ojewale while on a tour of some farming communities, talked about the desire of farmers to expand their productivity given the right investment climate. He also expressed reservations about the appetite for ‘high profit margins’ by rice milling companies that has kept local rice expensive despite paddy becoming cheaper. Siddik also spoke about the potentials of dry season farming in delivering better returns for farmers. Excerpts:

 What was the specific reason farmers were not engaging in dry season farming before?

It was not due to lack of equipment because the cost of water pumping machine is relatively cheap; ironically, farmers consider it as something that they cannot do. But when they saw the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme as a loan that could enable them acquire pumping machines, they said to themselves “let us try this”. Now that they have started it, farmers are now becoming aware that if dry season farming is well managed, it is far better in yield than wet season farming.

Reasons for this include wet season farming is a carrier of so many diseases while in dry season farming; we do not face similar challenges unless a farm is not well managed. Again, for the wet season, there are some stages where rice does not need so much water, and a farmer cannot have total control of water on his farm during the wet season. However, for the dry season, it is whenever you need water that you irrigate or pump water into the farm. With that, we discovered that rice always performs better in dry season compared to wet season, if it is well managed.

Local rice is considered expensive; costing about N17,000 per 50kg bag on the average, and some rice millers have told me the price of paddy needs to come down even further in order for market prices to really change as well.  What are you doing to lower costs?

 I want to confirm to you that the millers are our problem because their profit margin is too high. They are not satisfied with little profit that will come out. For instance, in 2016 a 70-75kg bag of paddy rice was sold at about N12,000 but the price has fallen now and sells for N7,500. Yet the price of local rice has not come down. Our millers are the problem. A few months ago, we held a meeting with the honourable minister for agriculture, where millers were telling him that about 50 percent of rice that they buy goes with the bran, but this is a lie. They are our problem in Nigeria because they are always after their pockets, their selfish interests, and they do not want to help this country. In a situation where they are committed to helping the country, the price of our local rice will be cheaper.

But what do you think needs to be done in order for farmers to be able to sell paddy for as low as even N5,000 per bag?

 The agrochemicals we are using, the prices are too high and it is one of the factors affecting farmers. Also, farmers lack mechanisation and manpower is always time consuming and if you employ labourers, they charge high. However, in a situation where we are fully mechanised, where ten people will work in a day, if you bring a tractor or some other machine, it can be done within one or two hours, and invariably, the price of everything will come down. These are some areas, which if addressed, will make it possible for the farmers to sell their paddy at lower prices, and everything will be okay.

 Final words

 We are pleading with those who God has blessed with wealth that they should come and invest here. We have a very good business environment here, we have virgin land for rice farming and we have enough paddy rice here that we can to supply any mill that is situated here.