Editorial 

For a country that only recently ranked among the world’s leading importers of rice, the quest for domestic sufficiency in record time would ordinarily be deemed admirable. Not so the frenetic race to join the league of exporters, even when basic infrastructure are far from being in place. That would be akin to putting the cart before the horse.

That perhaps best describes the press conference in Lagos last week during which an apparently upbeat agriculture and rural development minister, Muhammad Sabo Nanono, announced that the country was ready to join the league of rice exporters. He listed, among his reasons, the country’s 11 rice milling plants with the capacity to produce from 180 tonnes to 350 tonnes of rice per day; another mill with a capacity to produce 400 tonnes of rice per day expected to come on board soon, and this aside other upcoming 34 smaller mills and countless other clusters in different parts of the country.

According to the minister, “Before the closure of our land borders, most of these rice milling plants were partially operating, but now, they not only operate in full capacity but are also expanding. And if we maintain the momentum in the next two years, we may export rice to other countries”.

Like his predecessor, the minister may have succumbed to the pressure to overstate the reality of possible achievement.

No doubt, a lot of money has been poured into the CBN-initiated Anchor Borrowers Scheme. As at May, last year, over N190 billion had reportedly been disbursed to more than 1.1 million smallholder farmers through the programme. In all, over 1.3 million hectares of land were said to have been brought under cultivation.

Overall however, the indication is that the country still has a long way to go. The US Department of Agriculture and the World Markets and Trade, for instance, both put the total rice production at 3.7 million tonnes annually – and this against an annual demand of 6.4 million tonnes (representing 20% of Africa’s consumption). Unfortunately, the figures from the Federal Government have remained one of wild guestimates.

However the government tried to wish the problems away, the truth of the matter is that they have endured. Top on the list is relatively low output. Here, mechanisation remains a major drawback at 0.3 hp/ha, relative to 2.6hp/ha in India and 8 hp/ha in China.

In a rather graphic picture, PWC – the global accounting firm – says that increasing the mechanisation rate from 0.3hp/ha to 0.8hp/ha in the next five years can double rice production to 7.2 million tonnes. That, says the firm, would involve tripling the current stock of machinery over the same period. At the moment, that remains a tall order.

Add to the aforementioned the emerging complaints about the quality of local rice on offer. As it seems, there can be no further shying away from asking tough questions – about what our millers are doing to ensure that the locally produced rice is world-class, both in quality and packaging.

As for the farmers, they certainly can do with more help in extension services to boost output and to cut post-harvest losses. Moreover, to the extent that the current credit architecture for rice remains not only ad hoc but restrictive – there is a lot to be said of the role of the apex bank as sole promoter of the anchor borrower initiative.

The giant killer of course remains smuggling. By closing the borders, the government has since demonstrated its resolve to tame the monster. Unfortunately, despite government’s efforts to make  our ECOWAS neighbours see reason, they have remained unyielding, if not recalcitrant. Since the closure cannot be permanent, the government ought to be considering targeted measures as alternative to punish non-compliance.

The government will do well to address the identified challenges first before venturing into the highly competitive export market. In other words, rather than setting unrealistic time frame for itself, the quest should be more about developing a sustainable eco-system for the entire sector. That will not only put the country in better stead to sustain the current momentum but will supply the launch pad for our export aspirations.