Audu Ogbeh, Nigeria’s minister of agriculture and rural development, says the country may not achieve self-sufficiency in food in near term considering the enormous work that still needs to be done in the sector following years of serious neglect.
“Let me also tell you that it is a pity that we as a country forgot agriculture for 30 years and overnight we want the prices to fall, they can’t just fall totally like that,” Ogbeh tells BusinessDay in an interview.
This statement from the minister is contrary to an earlier statement attributed to him few months ago as regard to an assurance that Nigeria will achieve self-sufficiency in food production by 2017.
Ogbeh gave the earlier statement in October during a roundtable meeting of Rice Supply Chain of the Agribusiness Supplier Development Programme (ASDP) jointly organised by the ministry, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL).
The minister at the meeting then reiterated the readiness of the ministry to support and encourage the private sector to take the lead, giving assurance that government would provide the enabling environment through policy constituency, appropriate legislation and oversight to ensure effective diversification, import substitution and food security in the nation.
Speaking specifically on rice, he assured that by 2017, Nigeria would be self-sufficient in rice production, stating that the country was getting close, as there was improvement on what we have been getting before.
While condemning the craze for foreign rice by some Nigerians who according to him should be patronizing made in Nigerian rice, which is better than the imported version, the Minister stated that rice production in Nigerian has gotten to a self-sufficiency level as the country is currently targeting net export of rice by 2017.
He said the price of rice was falling already, noting, “Locally produced rice goes for N16,000 in the market, while foreign rice goes for N18,000.”
Speaking on the technicalities involved in rice production, the minister said “the labour involved in rice production is a back breaking type. I have done it before, I have planted, I have harvested. I was the first Nigerian to run a rice mill free of stones.
“I brought the machines from South Korea through Obasanjo. This year, we have gone very far. In another year, anybody buying foreign rice is wasting his time. But it takes a while to get there.”
He explained that there is no way Nigeria can jump. “It took Brazil 50 years to get to where they are now. It took India 60 years. A country forgets agriculture, it doesn’t happen overnight. It is a slow process. We have to plan, we have to wait, and we have to get good seeds, find the right soil type, give the right fertilizers and then bring in machinery.
“Milling rice is a very slow process. That is why we brought in 110 rice mills of different sizes. Each state will get a minimum of three, but they will go to the private sector. So, it is very slow. Another year or two, we are pushing at the speed of light and the farmers are happy,” the minister assured.
He said further that by this time next year Nigeria should not be talking of foreign rice, as “we could now shift to export items like beans, yams, cassava and maize. Maize is also not too good. We have to push. There was a disease. We have found the solution now. But it is quite slow.”
