50kg bag of rice can sell for N5,000 only if… —Rice farmers

As Nigeria grapples with rising food prices, Aminu Goronyo the president of Nigerian Rice Farmers Association has explained why the cost of rice is skyrocketing in Nigeria.

According to him, an increase in the exchange rate of naira to the dollar is the main reason Nigerians have yet to experience the effect of the increase in Nigeria’s rice production.

“It is the exchange rate of naira to dollar, otherwise, we would have been buying a 50kg bag of rice for N5,000, we have increased tremendously in our production” Goronyo said.

Speaking on Arise News he also highlighted how farmers had to convert their naira for dollars in order to acquire the components needed to grow their fields.

Read also: CBN moves to distribute rice in order to crash price

“For instance, the herbicide, sprayer, water pump, and the fertilizer component that we use are being imported. You have to change the naira to the dollar to buy those components that would give the farmers enough inputs to cultivate their farms. That is the present situation. You have to sell it to the farmers at a price that you exchange your naira, to make a profit.

“Buying this input in 2015, it is still the same farmer but the difference is the exchange of naira to the dollar. But there has been an increase in the area of production.

“Before 2015, what we received from our hectares was not more than 21.5 metric tons with a maximum of 2.5 tons, but today, the same farmers in the same hectare are obtaining between 5 and 9.5 metric tons due to the help we are receiving from the CBN through the anchored borrowers program.

“If not for the support, considering the exchange rate, I don’t know how much you will buy a bag of rice,” he said.

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