CONSUMPTION CRAZE AND LINGERING NATIONAL POVERTY (II)
“And indeed We have honored the Children of Adam, and We have carried them on land and sea, and have provided them with lawful good things, and have preferred them to many of those whom We have created with a marked preferment.” [Quran, 17:70]
By Babatunde Jose
The dignity that Allah bestowed upon humankind at the time of creation was the blessing of a sacred inviolability which manifests itself as the rights to life, freedom, and property.
The right to life has been recognized as the first and most important universal right derived from the Shari’a and classical Islamic Law.
Today in our land this sacred inviolability of the right to life is being violated with careless abandon. This state of insecurity has exacerbated and consequently aggravated the state of poverty in the land. Insecurity breeds food insecurity when life is not safe on the farm.
Rice, the most important staple on our tables, is receding into limbo as a result of price inflation amid the inability of farmers to produce more as a result of insecurity on the farms.
What happened to the huge monies governments at all levels claim to have invested in rice production with a view to changing the narrative? As one commentator proffered, these investments have been mismanaged and sometimes embezzled, hence we have had little to show for it. There are many other reasons for this.
In March 2016, the Lagos State Government and Kebbi State, signed a memorandum of understanding to come out with ‘made in Nigeria’ rice. In December 2016, they stepped up their game with the launching of the Lagos-Kebbi Rice christened ‘Lakerice’.
Under five years, that rice was no more in the market, while the anticipated cheap rice on the table has become a mirage: So much for food security!
While others are blaming inconsistency in government policies as the reason why the laudable initiative has been abandoned, others are pointing accusing fingers at the security situation in some parts of the north. Kebbi, like most other states in the federation, became unsafe for farmers. Kebbi is the major rice producer in the country. The tragedy of a nation.
Lagos State later initiated the Imota Rice Mill project. The largest mill in Africa and the third largest in the world. The rice mill has a capacity to produce 2.8 million bags of 50 kg bags of rice yearly, while generating 1,500 direct jobs and 254,000 indirect jobs. It promised to be a game changer, in all ramifications.
Tragically, it has not, due to inadequate paddy rice to feed the mill: The same problem confronts other rice millers in the country. Rather the price of rice has climbed to N60 per 50kg.
Nigeria is the largest producer of rice in Africa (FAO), producing about 8,435,000 tonnes annually, which is a cheering news. But sadly, Nigeria is the 4th highest importer of milled rice in the world. There is a need for Nigeria to improve its rice production capacity in order to become self-sufficient and able to enter the league of exporters.
Nigeria’s mechanization has remained low at 0.3 hp/ha, relative to 2.6hp/ha in India and 8 hp/ha in China. The number of agricultural tractors is estimated around 22,000, relative to 1 million and 2.5 million in China and India respectively. Low income, limited access to affordable financing and the lack of technical skills have limited the adoption of mechanization across the rice value chain.
Despite spending billions of Naira through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Anchor Borrowers Program (ABP), a report by (USDA) says that Nigeria, among other countries will import more rice in 2024.
Nigeria’s food importation gulped N1.9trn in 2022 – “Imports are surging despite continuous government support, and this is because of the high insecurity rate in the country.” Africa’s most populous country has failed to grow more food for its fast rising. Why?
Continued conflict, climate change, inflation and rising food prices are key drivers of this alarming trend. Food access has been affected by persistent violence in the north-east states and armed banditry and kidnapping in states such as Katsina, Sokoto, Kaduna, Benue and Niger.
Eng. Dipo, a commentator, averred that there is a movement of young people away from the farm, and it is now more lucrative to join the army of marauders, kidnappers, and terrorists. This has upped the incidence of insecurity that is plaguing farming output.
The security issue is so serious that it poses a great threat to all our interventions in the agricultural sector. Back in those days, the Yorubas would always say: *‘A kii gbe inu ile gba ofa lai re ogun’*. Translated literally, it means: _‘Except one goes to war, you do not get attacked with an arrow in the confines of your home.’_ Current events in the land seem to have paled the adage into insignificance. Before our very eyes, the house is no longer safe, and the farm is a no-go area. Police and Army Barracks are not spared.
To exemplify this scenario as it concerns the effect on rice farming and implications for output, we need to look at the case of Rotimi Williams, owner of what was the second largest rice farm in the country.
Ten years ago, Rotimi Williams left a blossoming business journalism career to set up Kereksuk rice farm, which became Nigeria’s second largest holding: Sitting on 45,000 hectares employing over 600 people in Nasarawa State. Today, however, he has taken a hiatus after escaping five kidnap attempts and being shot.
“There is no way I can be on the ground on any farm until the government irons out the security issues,” he tells The Africa Report.
This then is the chief reason for the shortage of paddy rice needed to feed the various rice mills and consequently, the inability to meet up to the production level required for the country to obliterate the need for import.
The security issue is not only affecting rice farmers in the north, but other farmers too. Some five years ago Mr. Sonubi had a thriving farm in Ikorodu where he even raised cattle which he supplied to customers. Over time the Fulani herdsmen invaded his farm and destroyed everything and carted away all animals. He was lucky to escape with his life. Today, he is no longer into farming.
Our very good friend Engineer Dangana also dabbled in farming with a most horrible experience. Herdsmen invaded his farm and occupied it for 6 months, holding him and his farm hands hostage while they pillaged the farm.
Villagers in some communities of Kaduna State, specifically in the local governments of Igabi, Giwa, and Birnin Gwari, are currently facing challenges as bandits continue to intimidate and harass them, forcing many of them to abandon their farmlands. The farmers are compelled to pay levies to the bandits to allow them to harvest their crops and access their farmlands. Those who refuse to comply face severe consequences, including abduction, murder, or confiscation of their produce.
Rice is cultivated on about 3.7 million hectares of land in Nigeria, representing 10.6% of the 35 million hectares of land under cultivation, out of a total arable land area of 70 million hectares. There is a need to do more if we want to be self-sufficient in food production, especially rice. To do more, farming has to be made more attractive and safer. A man cannot risk his life to go into farming when he is not enlisting in the army.
Another issue is insufficient supply chain integration, weak infrastructure, and lack of capacity for farmers’ low use of farm mechanization, among others, leading to a high cost of production, thus making it more expensive to produce a bag of local parboiled rice.
For Nigeria to sustain the progress made in its rice revolution, local parboiled varieties must compete favorably with imported variety.
However, despite farmers increasing productivity per unit area over the last few years, Nigerian rice has remained uncompetitive owing to numerous factors apart from the high cost of paddy.
Energy remains a big infrastructural challenge in Nigeria, pushing up operational costs for rice processors and reducing their expansion rate.
“Most rice mills are running on generator plants, and this constitutes the bulk of their production cost.”
So far, Nigeria has spent over $15bn in the past decade to meet its expanding rice consumption, despite its potential to be a net rice exporter.
But despite these efforts, the cost of local rice is rising daily, pushing it even out of reach of many Nigerians, who are left to wonder why.
As food prices continue to escalate due to galloping inflation, there is fear of a looming revolt and food riots like we witnessed in North Africa which led to the Arab Spring. It promises to be bloody. Let us take care of security and it would take care of the farmers.
Nigeria’s history of security challenges and the fight against the ugly trend has been that of insincerity and instability. Nigeria is in dire straits. The fear in society is not only palpable but also ubiquitous. Nigerians are thinking of economic problems without taking into consideration that social problems will make mincemeat of economic growth and development and that social problems will end up making a nullity of any administration’s efforts, if not challenged and defeated.
Talking about the funny names ascribed to the 2024 proposed budget, Bismark Rewane of Nigerian Derivatives said: ‘Nigerians are not interested in budgetary figures if the prices of basic commodities like rice, bread, and garri fail to go down. In the end, budgetary arithmetics, budgetary mathematics in economics, is of no use to anybody except when, by this time, six months’ time, if we are buying rice at N40,000 a bag rather than N60,000 a bag, if we are buying bread at N900 a big loaf instead of N1,300, which we are doing today. If we are buying garri at lower prices. The people are not interested in whether the budget is balanced or what the debt is. How does it (the budget) affect their day-to-day livelihood? That is the key thing.”
*Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Unfortunately, they have stolen the light at the end of the tunnel!*
*Subhana Rabbika Rabbil ‘izzati ‘amma yasifun, Wa salamun ‘alal-Mursalin, Wal hamdu lillahi Rabbil ‘alamin.*
*Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend.*
*Babatunde Jose*
