ActionAid warns government over rice import ban
ActionAid Nigeria has warned that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s present choice to raise the overseas trade ban on rice imports could have a serious affect on the government’s plans to attain self-sufficiency in rice manufacturing. Recall that the CBN just lately lifted the ban on imports of rice and 42 different objects.
The group’s Country Director, Mr. Andrew Mamedu, expressed this concern throughout an Alternatives Dialogue and Dissemination occasion themed “Addressing Pollution in Agribusiness and Energy Projects” held in Abuja.
Speaking on behalf of AAN’s Acting Program Director, Celestine Okwudili, Mamedu mentioned: “The challenge is that competition for local farmers is increasing in the gap. As local rice productivity improves and awareness increases, consumers will be forced to accept the bourgeois who can afford it. It will be gone.”
He added: “The government should reconsider this move as lifting the ban will have a negative impact on local farmers.” If there’s a scarcity of native rice, the government ought to spend money on it. This must be approached as a enterprise that generates revenue for the neighborhood, in partnership with state governments, personal organizations, and people. ”
Mr Mamedu known as on the federal government to ascertain rice processing crops inside every native council and switch it right into a worthwhile funding. He emphasised the necessity for governments to simplify know-how and make it reasonably priced and accessible.
Mamedu highlighted the success of garri processing crops within the Niger Delta, noting that “government should consider and adapt such models and provide alternative solutions in the future.”
Alternatives case advisor Donald Ofoegu mentioned: “This suggests a gradual transition from guide processes to energy-efficient use of fossil fuels, and in the end to one hundred pc clear vitality.” “The importance of energy transition proposals.”
Source: guardian.ng