The astronomical rise in the prices of local rice

LAST week, a media report indicated that the steady rise in the cost of local rice had reached epic proportions. According to the report which put the increment at 201.52 percent over a seven-year period, the rise was occasioned by the widespread insecurity in the country and  import bans, among other factors, in spite of the multibillion naira funding support by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the country’s rice value chain aimed at boosting production. Citing data from the Selected Food Prices Watch Report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBC), the report showed that the average price of 1kg of local rice rose from N172.74 in February 2016 to N520.84 as of February 2023.

Intent on curtailing the importation of certain items that the country could afford to produce, the apex bank had, in 2015, stopped importers of rice and 41 other items from accessing foreign exchange at the official window, with the Federal Government also banning rice imports across land borders and imposing 70 percent tariffs on imports coming through the ports. However, as developments in the country have since shown, the government’s vaunted objectives have been a mirage, as local rice has become notoriously overpriced and beyond the reach of millions of Nigerians while not necessarily offering the quality associated with imported rice. Although in January 2022, President Muhammadu Buhari basked in the alleged revolution in local production of rice while unveiling rice pyramids purportedly containing over one million bags of rice paddy in Abuja, lauding his administration’s “efforts at reducing the price of rice in Nigeria,” Nigerians have not seen any price reduction in markets. The price of local rice now painfully competes with that of imported rice, making total mockery of the government’s ban on imported rice.

It is indeed distressing that the prices of locally produced food items, including rice, have gone beyond the reach of the vast majority of Nigerians who confront existential challenges and threats on a daily basis. Rice is a staple food in the country, and the astronomic rise in its price means an increasingly miserable life for the Nigerian people. A staple food is necessarily a representation of food in general, meaning that the rising cost of rice is an indication of the increasing level of inflation. The implication of such a rise in food prices is not difficult to contemplate; feeding, no matter how poorly, is a growing concern among the populace.

In the face of the misery of Nigerians, the Federal Government keeps harping on its agricultural schemes. Yet the fact is that even though the CBN introduced a number of schemes to boost local production of rice, such measures have been undercut by the pervasive climate of insecurity that has enveloped the country. With farmers continually being sacked from their farmlands by terrorists masquerading as nomadic herders, forced to pay illegal taxes before planting or harvesting their crops, or being executed outright, food production has ebbed, with disastrous consequences for the long-suffering, hard-hit populace. This, of course, is apart from the havoc wrought by floods across the country as state agencies traded alibis. The result is that Nigerians are faced with grueling inflation at an unprecedented level, trapped in appalling conditions of life.

The government obviously has to be concerned about the astronomical increase in food prices and take urgent adequate steps to address it by working on increasing the supply and availability of food items. It must help farmers to produce food in massive quantities. Farmers should be able to return to their farms without any apprehension about the threat posed by terrorists. As we stated in previous editorials, the government could achieve a lot by drafting security patrol teams to farms to contain the threats posed by terrorists. If food production worsens beyond the present miserable state, social unrest could break out, leading to utter mayhem. The government has to act now to stave off protests on account of food scarcity that could threaten social order and stability.

We hope that the crucial nature of food to human survival would spur the government to act speedily in arresting this drift into a food crisis.