Rice Farmers Urge FG To Adopt Measures To Stop Importation, Smuggling

President, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), South-West Zone, Mr Segun Atho, on yesterday, urged the Federal Government to adopt decisive measures to stop the importation and smuggling of rice.
Atho told reporters in Lagos that massive smuggling and importation of rice had adversely affected local production and was a major cause of concern to farmers.
“Smugglers are seriously killing the acceptability of local rice in the market; we don’t have local rice as much as the foreign one in the markets.

President, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), South-West Zone, Mr Segun Atho, on yesterday, urged the Federal Government to adopt decisive measures to stop the importation and smuggling of rice.
Atho told reporters in Lagos that massive smuggling and importation of rice had adversely affected local production and was a major cause of concern to farmers.
“Smugglers are seriously killing the acceptability of local rice in the market; we don’t have local rice as much as the foreign one in the markets.
“Government needs to come out and help us to deal with the issue, in order to encourage local rice growers.
“If the Federal Government can review the trade liberalisation scheme and close the borders to smuggled goods, this will help improve the production of local rice in the country,’’ he said.
Atho added that the increase in the production and sale of local rice would encourage other interested citizens to take up farming as a profession.
He also urged government to invest more in the provision of organic fertiliser, saying there was a need to increase the nation's capacity in rice production, rather than in the processing of the produce.
“We appeal to government for provision of organic fertiliser, in order for our local produce to be accepted in other foreign countries.
“The combination of chemical fertiliser and organic fertiliser increases the yield, more than chemical fertilisers alone, “he said.
The association’s president attributed the rejection of locally produced rice at the international market to Nigerian farmers not having ready access to organic fertilisers during cultivation.