Interrogating the value of one million paddy rice pyramid in Abuja, displayed to showcase the impact of anchor borrower scheme and other support for rice farmers, the speech of the central bank of Nigeria clarified some of the burning questions on the pyramid, he said they bought the paddy rice from the rice farmer in a place of collecting money to encourage them, the government in turn process the rice and send it to the market for consumption.
In the year 2014 government of Thailand exported 1.3 million metrics tons of rice to Nigeria before the administration of President Muhammad Buhari and his anchor borrower policy, as at 2016 the importation of rice to Nigeria by Thailand was reduced to 58,000 metric tons, in the year 2021 the entire importation of rice to Nigeria by Thailand has reduced significantly to 2000 tons.
The pyramid exhibition has been going on in different states before the mega Abuja pyramid and president Buhari in his speech said it will continue throughout the year, we are only not informed of the location, listening to the five governors that were present and the launching of the rice pyramid it shows they have their rice showcased at the pyramid.
It is abundantly clear that there is a shift in the production of rice positively in Nigeria, but it appears marginal compare to the expected food security as the increase does not reduce the cost of rice in the market, before the administration of President Buhari, a Bag of rice was 8,000 Naira, with this enumerated intervention and the practical pyramid of one million bags of paddy rice, why is the cost of rice not reduced drastically.
showcasing the pyramid may look like a bragging right to the Buhari government or Nigeria in the committee of nations, more so it will be on record as the largest rice pyramid in Africa, as a Nigeria, we all like the side of the bragging right as a nation but does it translate to how much we are buying the rice in the market?
The burning question begging for an answer is that we have been able to stop the importation of rice to over 80% because rice importation is majorly through smuggling now.
Basic economics teaches us that when there is supply and competition, price is expected to reduce, about five states are producing rice in large quantity and the Central Bank is also reducing the middlemen by buying directly from the farmers to offset the loan the government policy appears very encouraging but it is not reflected in the price of rice in the Nigeria market, A bag of rice is still within 25,000 Naira, with this narrative you can answer if the rice pyramid display is a jamboree or showcasing Nigeria rice production capacity
*Aliyu ilias is a Political Economist, writes in from Abuja
