The partial closure of our borders, purposely to check massive smuggling activities especially of rice, and to improve our domestic agricultural food crops production will help improve our internally generated revenue and enable us to stand on our feet. The embargo imposed on some commodities, especially parboiled rice, spaghetti and other foreign products is also good as our peasant farmers cultivate different seasonal crops which they need to sell to improve their lives as well as contribute to the economy.
Unfortunately, there is continued price hike on some of the foodstuff like paddy rice and the parboiled. Paddy goes for N750 per measure while parboiled (milled) per bag sels at N15,000-N16,000. This is unfair considering the price of the foreign rice variety. Our domestic processing companies deserve commendation as they reduced unemployment and improved the quality of their products now standing shoulder to shoulder, or are even better than the foreign varieties.
If many people can’t afford local rice, then there is need to lift the embargo on foreign foodstuff to stabilise the price of our domestic goods. The government should intervene by imposing price control to enable farmers and consumers to also enjoy the dividends, not only company proprietors.
Alhaji Musa Muhammad
