The sum of N60bn has been approved by
the Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari as a subsidy for rice production in the country,
the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, revealed on Friday, 16th November 2018.
He spoke with State House correspondents after the National Food Security Council ended its meeting at the Presidential Villa, which was presided over by President Buhari.
The minister explained that the subsidy was meant to cut down prices of rice, particularly during the Yuletide season .
Ogbe, who was flanked by the Kebbi State
Governor, Atiku Bagudu, explained that the purpose of the subsidy was
to help bring down the price of the commodity in the country.
He said, “There is a subsidy programme
coming up. The government has approved some money, N60bn, to support the
rice industry to bring down prices. But, we are going to handle it
differently.
“We don’t want to get into petroleum subsidy problem. So, a committee is looking at it with the Ministry of Finance.
“We think that it is better for us to
loan money to the millers, farmers and distributors at a very
low-interest-rate so that the capital doesn’t disappear and they have
cheaper credit to do their business that should impact on the price of
rice in the market. When we are ready, we will let you know.”
On the use of NPK 15.15.15, a brand of
fertilizer, by farmers, Ogbeh stated that government’s intention to
place a ban on it was real.
He said the reason was that the fertilizer brand did not add much value to crop production by the farmers.
The minister added, “We call for the
ban of fertilizer NPK 15.15.15, which has been used in the country for
many years but recent research has revealed that it is not useful for
any crop or any soil.
He stated “Soils differ and so do crops. To
believe there is one uniform fertilizer you can spread for every crop is
a fallacy. And it is because we have done soil tests and change the
formulation of fertilizers, local blenders, that some of the yields we
are getting now are rising from two tonnes per hectare to five and six.
“So, the President is looking into that and how we can deal with it.”
Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu, who
also addressed journalists, recalled a recent report by the United
States Department of Agriculture, indicating that Nigeria was still a
major importer of rice.
“We drew the attention of the Council to
a report, which suggested that Nigeria had been importing rice to the
tune of about three million tonnes.
“We informed the council that contact
has been made with the US agency to tell us the basis for the report
because it is not consistent with the report available to us.
“The only official importation in Nigeria is about 4,000 metric tonnes of rice.
Secondly, the biggest exporter of rice,
Thailand, exported 1.1 million metric tonnes of rice to West Africa
between January and October this year and India exported 402, 000 metric tonnes of rice to West Africa between January and the end of July
this year. That is a total of 1.5 million metric tonnes.
“Even if all was smuggled into Nigeria, that was the total amount of importation one could attribute to Nigeria.
