Demand for locally-produced rice on the rise, says local farmer

RICE farmer, Mr Raymos Guanah, says there is an increase in the demand for local rice, an indication that Nigerians are beginning to appreciate locally-produced rice.

Guanah told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Asaba that his farm had multiplied its harvests of rice in the last three years.

“In 2014, we harvested 300 tonnes, while in 2015, we got 600 tonnes. “In 2016, we had 900 tonnes and as I speak with you now nothing is left, we were able to sell all of it,’’ the rice farmer told NAN.

He said that the farm’s target for 2017 was to produce 3000 tonnes of rice due to increase in the demand for the produce.

Guanah, Chief Executive, Raymos Guanah Farms, said that the increasing patronage was because Nigerians now prefer locally-produced rice to imported rice.

“Nigerians are becoming more aware that there is so much difference between the locally-produced rice and the imported rice,’’ he said.

Guanah, a former Commissioner for Lands in Delta, noted that the high patronage of rice produced from his farm was because of his “no stone, no sand’’ policy.

Guanah urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to extend its Anchor Borrowers Programme to other farmers instead of limiting it to only cooperative societies.

According to him, there are some big farmers engaging in mechanised farming and cultivating larger expanse of land than many cooperative societies.