Nigeria’s rice will soon compete with international brands- Osinbajo

The Acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) has disclosed that Nigerians will soon see the manifestation of some of the reforms taken by the Federal Government in the agricultural sector as the country will soon start producing local rice that will compete favourably with any brand in the world.

Osinbajo disclosed this in Abuja on Wednesday during an interactive session with some middle level civil and public servants on the ease of doing business.
The acting president also urged Nigerians to increase their patronage of manufactured locally products, saying that the development would enable the government to reduce the level of unemployment in the country.

Speaking on the need to change the narrative on rice production, Osinbajo said that Nigeria has enough capacity to grow quality rice that would meet the demands of not only Nigerians but all the countries in Africa.

According to him, if Nigerians can consume what the country produces locally, the twin problems of poverty and unemployment will be easily addressed.

Commenting on why the prices of locally produced rice is higher than the imported rice, Osinbajo said the development is due to the fact that the Indian, China and Thailand rice farmers are being subsidized by their governments.

He added that the federal government was mindful of this development and would do everything within its powers to encourage local farmers to improve the output and quality of local price.

Osinbajo said, “It is worrisome that locally produced rice is still expensive than imported rice from India, China and Thailand.

“Rice produced in these countries, are subsidized by their respective governments making rice from the region cheap and affordable.

“By subsiding rice production for farmers, more jobs are created. We are planning to introduce some kinds of assistance to our farmers in due course. Our rice will have to compete with imported rice.”