By Fatima Saka
The Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) has urged the Federal Government to ensure a predictable market by controlling prices in the rice value chain.
The Oyo State Chairman RIFAN, Mr Samuel Akinade, made the call in an interview with journalists in Ibadan, on Monday.
Akinade stated that the cost of rice, if regulated by the government, will ensure the predictability of the market and check the unjustified increase in the price of what consumers buy due to the activities of middlemen.
“If we plant rice because rain is good and we harvest it, and we sell it to the millers at a moderate price, the millers will add their cost to it.
“But as soon as it leaves the milling centres, what will happen between then and when it gets to the table of the consumers is unknown. There are middlemen who will sell the commodity and they can decide to sell for anything”, he said.
“Also, the force of demand and supply will take its course, especially when people now begin to shift to local rice because of its nutritional value,” he added.
According to him, the price will be going up because more people are going for it and that is why our market in Nigeria is unpredictable, everybody does whatever they like with the market.
“If there is control from the government, it can regulate the price at different stages of production and stipulate price for the marketers, which will be okay.
“If the government says the paddy rice is at this cost to the millers, the millers should release it at this price and then the marketer should sell at the market at this price that will be okay.
“But in a case where the farmers release rice at a moderate price, the millers who produced added something, what of the marketers? Who is controlling the marketers? Nobody!
“That is why we can’t predict the price of rice. Besides, when people say the paddy is costly, it is because the chemicals we use are very expensive now, even the high cost of tractors is part of why rice is expensive,” he said.
Akinade, a beneficiary of Anchors Borrowers’ programme of the Federal Government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria said the cost of farming input had skyrocketed.
“The farmer will add the cost of input on the land to determine the cost of production and then add his own profit and services to determine the price of rice.
“The input starts from tree felling and uprooting. If the state or federal government wants to assist, that is the area they can come, on land preparation for planting to take place but up till now, for rice farming, they have not shown interest,” he said.
Akinade said now that rain had started to fall, land preparation continues, adding; “at this level, the stability of the rain cannot be relied upon for now.
“We don’t know what God wants to do, maybe it will continue like this. But rain needs to continue like this because we are expecting it to rain for three to four weeks before the rain stabilises.
“And for rice, we need regular water. May be by around the end of April people can be planting.
“Where the land is like Fadama, ‘Akuro’ land, that is irrigable, low-lying plains underlain by “shallow” aquifers found along major river systems, people can begin to plant around this time.
“Land preparation is the major operation now. For now, we can be clearing the land and plough,” he added.
