The Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) has put the current statistic of rice production at eight million tonnes annually.
President of RIFAN, Aminu Goronyo, said Nigeria has no option than to place total ban on rice importation before the end of this year.
“We have two cropping seasons in rice production and in each season we produce an average of four million tonnes, which will give you eight million per annum,” he said.
The challenge is to see how the local rice becomes affordable to every Nigerian -something that Goronyo said they are working on in collaboration with the Federal Government.
“We have enough paddies on the ground the same thing with rice millers – they have more than enough in stock – which means that we don’t need to import paddy or milled rice,” said Goronyo.
But for now, they have one thing to seriously worry about – smuggling – and the Federal Government must worry, but most importantly, tackle the menace too.
