Challenges in Local Rice Production Leave Lagos Traders Seeking Solutions
Summary:
- Local Rice Demand Outpaces Supply: Rice traders in Lagos express concern as local rice farmers struggle to meet the increasing demand for their produce.
- Improved Quality but Limited Availability: Despite the enhanced quality of locally grown rice, traders note that only a few good-quality brands are available, prompting calls for increased awareness and government intervention.
- Border Closure Impact: Traders anticipate that a more stringent border closure would boost the consumption of local rice, urging the government to either enforce border closures to curb smuggled rice or officially open borders for legal rice imports.
In Lagos, some rice traders are expressing concern over the incapacity of local rice farmers to meet the surging demand for their produce.
These sentiments were voiced during separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on a Wednesday in Lagos.
The Federal Government has recently reiterated its dedication to bolstering the domestic production of essential grains like wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, and soybean by providing necessary farm inputs.
Mr John Nwabueze, a foodstuff trader based in Alimosho, highlighted the escalating cost of local produce and the challenges faced by homegrown rice in keeping up with increasing demands. Despite this, he acknowledged the improved quality of locally grown rice, asserting its equivalence to foreign varieties.
Nwabueze remarked,
“If the closure of the border is completely enforced, Nigerians will have no choice but to stick to locally grown rice.
“When there is scarcity of the smuggled rice, then we will wholly embrace our homegrown rice.
“Local rice farmers may not initially be able to meet the growing demands of rice if the borders are watertight shut but gradually they will meet up.”
He attributed the preference for foreign rice among Nigerians to a lack of awareness about the merits of local rice.
“We have very good local rice brands without stones and well-polished but Nigerians are used to foreign rice.”
Temitayo Abdulhakeem, another rice trader, echoed similar sentiments about the quality improvement in Nigerian rice but highlighted its insufficiency to meet the rising local demands.
He suggested that if borders were completely sealed to prevent a rice influx, local farmers might struggle to cope with the demand.
“When we started eating Nigerian rice when the border was initially closed, we had a lot of poorly processed rice in the market.
“But now the situation has changed; however, most customers insist that they will rather buy expensive rice than buy local rice,” Abdulhakeem noted.
He advocated for the controlled opening of borders for legal rice importation to break the monopoly of a few importers.
“We want the government to either completely enforce the closure of the borders and put an end to smuggled rice or officially open the borders for legal rice imports,” he urged.
The traders revealed their recent inability to access foreign rice, with prices ranging from N54,000 for short-grain rice to N65,000 to N66,000 for long-grain rice.
In contrast, Nigerian rice is priced between N49,000 and N50,000 per bag. These challenges underscore the need for strategic interventions to address the demand-supply gap and elevate the profile of locally produced rice.
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