- Local rice farmers announced price of rice will go as low as N6000
- Farmers are keying into the CBN borrowers' programme to increase production
- The demand for local rice has also increased
The price of rice is expected to fall to as low as N6000 in the next six months according to Alhaji Aminu Goronyo who is the president of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN).
The Nation reports that Goronyo spoke over the weekend where he said farmers have intensified production of local rice and this will see the price of rice go down.
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He said rice was being sold for as low as N10000 in some northern state and that the increase in demand has also positively affected farmers.
File photo of local rice farmers
The president of RIFAN noted that more farmers were now taking advantage of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) Anchor Borrowers Programme and that his association was mobilising more farmers to participate.
He said: “We are going to assist the Federal Government to produce more than enough rice. It is part of the plan to bring down the price of rice. There are several efforts that we are making to see that in no distant time, this price of rice will come down for Nigerians to have access to affordable milled rice.”
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“The strategy entails expansion of areas under rain fed farming and irrigation, reduction of post-harvest losses through mechanisation, improved seed production systems and market development improvement among others.”
He said he hoped the price will continue to fall so as to make it affordable to Nigerians.
