Nigeria’s Rice Conundrum: CBN must rethink strategy

■ spirited efforts to revolutionise rice production in Nigeria have only
proved that she has little comparative advantage in the commodity. This
newspaper posits that maize may well be the silver bullet
There’s no doubt that Nigeria has given it a gallant fight. It must also be
stated that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the governorship of
Mr Godwin Emefiele has done its best in the last half decade, not only to
revive rice production but to revolutionise it.
It’s quite sad to note that these efforts, noble as they seem to be, have
come a cropper. The rice situation in Nigeria is probably worse today
than it was in 2015 when this rice initiative began to enjoy fresh
impetus. 
What are the indications: The price of rice has continued to rise beyond
what it was in 2015; smuggling has not abated; locally produced rice
remains scarce just as it is priced higher than the imported brands.
But it has not bee for lack of trying on the part of the Central bank.  
Upon resumption as CBN governor in 2015, Godwin Emefiele, reading
rightly, the body language of his boss, President Muhammadu Buhari,
initiated a policy of “Nigeria not importing what she can produce.”
Arising from this, about 41 items were prohibited from official foreign
exchange allocation by the CBN. If you must import any of them, you
must source forex at market rate.
Rice is top on this list. It was also banned from importation through
Nigeria’s land borders. At this period, and despite the best efforts of the
Goodluck Jonathan administration, Nigeria was still spending about
N356 billion per annum on rice imports. 
This, of course, was not sustainable. 
Emefiele and his team dived into solving the problem thus: to revive
moribund sectors of the economy, curb flight of foreign exchange and
diversify the economy. 
CBN aggregated about a dozen agricultural produce in which Nigeria
has comparative advantage, to focus upon. These are rice, wheat,
maize, cotton, root, tubers, cassava and tomatoes, to mention a few.
Rice of course, was given number one priority. An initiative known as the
Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) was hatched by Emefiele’s CBN.
The ABP is designed to revolutionise agricultural production (especially

rice) by creating an ecosystem which links large smallholder farmers to
major processors. 
Since the programme started, there’s an astronomical rise in the size of
modern rice mills in Nigeria to almost 100; about 1.3 million farmers
have been financed and 5.5 million metric tons of paddy rice produced.
CBN has invested about N264 billion with a large chunk allotted to rice
production. 
Yet, the well known Nigeria rice conundrum remains. 
It is for this reason that many experts have suggested that Nigeria must
have a rethink, perhaps shift focus from rice and adopt maize as a pivot
crop.
The primary argument in support of this thought is that Nigeria does not
have a comparative advantage in rice production after all. That though,
rice may be the major staple of Nigeria, she does not have the capacity
to produce sufficient quantity and quality for her burgeoning population
of rice lovers. 
In a nutshell, experts think that in terms of soil, climate, technical know-
how and production culture, Nigeria can never match the southeast
Asian countries that have mastered the art of rice production for
centuries. This, they say, explains why no matter how hard Nigeria tries,
imported rice of higher quality lands Nigeria’s borders at far cheaper
rates. 
Proponents of maize as the new super crop say that it is a natural crop
most suited for the tropical climate; easy to produce and has vast value
chains. 
It is argued that rice is merely good for “stomach infrastructure,” that is,
its value starts and stops with human consumption of it. But maize, on
the other hand, has a long chain of values. 
It is as good in the kitchen as it is very useful in the industry.  It is key to
the production of animal and poultry feed.
In other words, maize is a most versatile and valuable crop.
To cut the long story short, TRUE VISION is persuaded by the argument
that the CBN should tweak its strategies a little. 
Nigeria has no business still importing maize, a crop she can grow easily
and dominate the world with. To think that Nigeria’s poultry industry is on
the verge of collapse due to feed scarcity in the last two seasons is
incomprehensible and, if we may say, indefensible and therefore
unacceptable. 
Finally, Nigeria stands to earn more if she charges lower tariffs (than
neighbouring countries) on rice imports through the seaports to
discourage smuggling via land borders.
Again, let’s rethink the rice conundrum.