CO-OPERATIVE RICE FARMERS SEEK INCENTIVES FOR LOCAL PRODUCTION

Published in Punch of Thursday, June 8, 2006

By Layi Ade

Local rice farmers in Edo State, under the auspices of the Co-operative Rice Farmers Association, have called on the Federal Government to put in place a policy that would encourage the consumption of local rice at all government occasions.

The leader of CRFA     in Ekpoma, Edo State Mrs. Edighele Ogbehilu, said that the role of Nigerian women in rice farming was very crucial and should be given priority attention by the government.

Special attention must be given to the vital food producing and entrepreneurial roles of women in rural farming’ she stated.

She condemned the trend where revenues generated from the oil and gas sector only benefited a few in the society.  She noted that agriculture remained the sector that could generate employment and create wealth for the masses.

According to her, the huge volume of smuggled rice in Nigeria had remained the bane of locally grown rice in the country she pointed out that a situation where billions of naira worth of rice entered the country illegally would deprive farmers of good prices of rice in the country.

She urged the government to enact a law to encourage the consumption of local rice production.  She noted that allowing the neighbouring countries to deprive Nigerian farmers the benefits was not good.

Africa’s share of global agricultural imports in 1998 was 4.6 per cent.  Its share of developing country imports was 16.3 per cent.

Agricultural imports account for about 15 per cent of total African imports.  It is of particular concern that the share of gross export revenues needed for importing food has increased from 12 per cent to over 30 per cent in Africa.

Part of Africa’s imports is food and with the continent receiving 2.8million tons in 2000 in the mid-1990s.

Agriculture providing 60 per cent of all employment, constitutes the backbone of most African economies and partly the largest contributor to GDP the biggest source of foreign exchange, still accounting for about 40 per cent of the continent’s hard currency earnings.

Nogi Imoukhuede,
Project Coordinator,
Women's Rights Watch Nigeria-www.rufarm.kabissa.org