Alhaji Aminu Goronyo is the National President of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RFAN). In this interview with FRIDAY AGBOSEINA, he speaks on the policy environment on rice production in the country.
Please, briefl y tell us about yourself and the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria? My name is Aminu Goronyo. I am the National President of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria. Th e association has a national spread across the country. We have national exco, national working committee, we have six-zonal vice presidents; we have states chairmen in all the 36 states and Abuja, we have 774 local government chairmen and we have 8,200 RIFAN ward chairmen. Our total number of registered members is 12.2 million rice farmers in the association. We are registered with the Corporate Aff airs Commission (CAC) about 20 years back. We also have four components under RIFAN namely production, processing, packaging and marketing.
Th ese are the four value chains that are attached to our platform. How did you venture into rice farming? I started farming since when I was nine years old. And since that time, till today and right now that I am sitting here, people are in my farm harvesting rice. For me, I have been in rice farming for about 50 years. I am a full-time large scale rice farmer. If you talk about value chain, I am into production, processing, packaging and marketing of Nigerian rice. How is your association contending with opposition to rice ban, that rice restriction should have been done in phases rather than outright ban which has Hiked the price of rice in the market? Just not quite three hours ago, we met with the Comptroller General of Customs Service on the banning of rice importation into the country.
Th ere has been a rumour around the country that the Nigerian Customs Service has lifted the ban on the so-called foreign rice. We saw it on papers and online; we contacted so many people, the rumour seemed to be true until when we visited him today. He confi rmed to us that there was nothing like that and it will never happen. He told us that there will be no day when land border in particular will be opened for the so-called foreign ‘cancer’. Nigerians were not aware of what they are eating; they thought they were eating rice. Th e rice imported into this country were grown and store for over 10 years, it has expired. Because they have nowhere to take it to, they brought it to Nigeria as a dumping ground. Unfortunately for our people, because anything foreign, they admire it, not knowing that there is better rice in their domain.
To the best of our ability, we are doing everything possible to maintain the ban on rice importation. We are also going to collaborate with Nigeria Customs Service; we have signed an MOU. We have both constituted a committee for us to work together. So, do you think our market is now free from foreign rice? No, because there are unpatriotic Nigerians who are enemies of this country within and outside. Th ere are some Nigerians who collaborate with these Indian people. Th e Indians that run rice business in Nigeria collaborate with our people. Th ey are the ones smuggling rice into the country. We are aware and we are not going to take it easy with them. We will never allow them to continue to smuggle rice into this country because if they succeed, our farmers will be rendered jobless. In RIFAN alone, we have 12 million farmers and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through the initiative of Mr President has come up with Anchor Borrowers Programme for fi nancing farmers across the country.
Th ey started in Kebbi state and today Anchor Borrowers is in about 26 states in the federation. Th e government programme is supporting us to make sure we are self-suffi cient in rice production in Nigeria. As a result of the ban, there is a shortfall in supply relative to demand in the economy. How do you as proponent of the ban, make up for the shortage in domestic supply? In one of the dailies (not Blueprint), they came up with a defi cit of 1.3 million metric tons that we require to balance the equation that is, the gap.
To RIFAN, that analysis or equation is not acceptable to us because we know that the rice we produce and the rice being smuggle out as paddy to countries that are close to us is more than the required quantity that we need in this country. We require a maximum of between 6.5 – 7.0 million metric tons per annum. Th at is our consumption rate. And what we grow in Kebbi state alone in just two production cycles is about 1.5 million metric tons talk less of Jigawa, Kano, Sokoto, Kaduna, Ebonyi, Imo, and Abia states among others.
So, the rice that is produced in this country is even more than our requirement. Only that there are saboteurs who want to sabotage this government, who want to make sure they use their resources to stop what the ordinary farmer is doing in trying to see that he feeds his country with the rice he produces. Rice is being exported from this country as I am talking to you now. In one rice mill that I visited recently, I saw a lot of rice processed and being stocked, no market. And people are telling us that we can’t feed this country.
Why the price of bag of rice is going high is not because we don’t have enough. We have more than enough; it is not only in rice that the price is high, the same goes for yam, sorghum, maize etc. It is because the exchange rate today is high and whoever is going into farming business must buy inputs such as chemicals which are being imported from outside the country, you will need dollars to buy them. Th is is why our cost of production has gone up. Some few days ago, a bag of paddy rice that was sold for N12,000.00 is now between N8,000.00 – N9,000. Th is is because we have intensifi ed action and our farmers are farming rice thrice in a year instead of one. Soon, a bag of rice will come down to between N5,000 – N6,000. I am sure of this.
This government through its Agricultural Promotion Policy has stated that rice importation will end in 2018. Do you have capacity to meet this policy target? We are in 2017, and to me, it has ended already ahead of 2018. Nobody has the capacity today to go and import rice through the seaport because by the time you change your naira into dollars and buy one bag from there, and bring it to Nigeria, it will cost you a minimum of N20,000 per bag excluding charges on transportation, loading, offl oading, handling etc.
So to me, we have ended the importation of rice. We are now self-suffi cient in rice production. Is there any synergy between your members and research agencies to improve rice seedling for high yield? We are working together. Seed breeders are seed producers and we are the seed consumers. So defi nitely, there is that working relationship. Sincerely speaking, in RIFAN, we are happy with the National Cereal Research Institute in Badeggi with what they are doing in ensuring that rice farmers obtain genuine and certifi ed rice seed. Is your association satisfi ed with the overall policy environment of government? We are happy because number one, we can see how they have regulated the issue of importation through the land borders.
Number two, you can see how they have instructed the Central Bank of Nigeria to venture into rice production to provide enough funds for rice farmers. We have seen all the integrated rice millers participate under that platform as off -takers so that farmers that use to suff er before on afterharvest in selling their produces, it has become history. Right at your farm, if you harvest, thresh and bagged, there will be an off -taker there. You don’t need to pay for transportation to take the produces to the market. Government has really done so much to help farmers. On fertilisers issue, before, we use to buy between N7,000 – N8,000 per bag but government has told us in RIFAN to get our fertilizers from the Fertilizer Manufacturing Committee of the Federal Government at control price of N5,500 per bag instead of N8,000. Sincerely, we appreciate the eff orts of government. Nigeria is not in the top 10 countries producing rice in the world despite its ecological advantages on rice production. As RIFAN President, what is your vision? My vision is that though Nigeria is not among the top 10 countries in the world, Nigeria is top on the list as the number one country in the world that import rice. Since, we have that capacity in importing high quantity of rice, and now that we have a government that takes this business serious, I think by the year 2018 as you earlier mentioned, Nigeria will be among the fi ve major rice producing countries in the world. If we are alive, you will come back to this offi ce to testify it.
