According to NAN, this was made known on Tuesday in Abuja by the Chairman, Pyramid Sub Committee of RIFAN, Mr Shehu Muazu, who said that the rice pyramid would show that local production of food is possible.
Muazu said that immediately after the unveiling of the pyramid, the CBN and RIFAN will allocate the rice to the processors.
He said, “RIFAN in collaboration with the Rice Millers Association of Nigeria will process the rice and sell at a discounted price. This will lead to drastic reduction in price once it starts rolling into the market.
“Our collaboration with the millers association rests on the agreement that they will sell at a discounted price to Nigerians.
“Although, we cannot talk of price in isolation as far as prices all over the world are concerned because all over the world prices of food have gone up.
He also pointed out that the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) which was designed to assist small scale farmers, is a reflection of the federal government’s efforts aimed at tackling food security.
Muazu said, “We have over one million bags of paddy rice which were collected from the beneficiaries of the ABP under the business strategy partnership. Benefiting farmers who received the loan, which came in the form of farm inputs and cash, repay with rice paddy of same value.
“The significance of this rice pyramid is to showcase the achievement of government as far as agriculture is concerned and to call on Nigerian corporations to queue into investments in agriculture. If the poor Nigerian farmers can do this then the rich people can do more than this.’’
