RIFAN Assures On Rice Price Reduction

The Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) says it will reduce the price of locally produced rice from N18,000 per 50kg. bag to N6,000 within the next few months.
The National President of RIFAN,  Alhaji Aminu Goronyo said this during a meeting with Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN) and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, in Abuja recently.
Goronyo said that although RIFAN and RIPAN had agreed to fix the current price of 50 kg. bag of rice at between N13,000 and N13,500, the price would further crash to N6,000 within the next few months if there were bumper harvests and low cost of production.
He said that the drastic reduction in the price would be made feasible if the cost of rice production was cut through the Federal Government’s support to rice farmers.
“This is just the beginning. The actual price will still come down because we are expecting a bumper harvest this year; we have sat down with the millers and agreed that we will work together for the intere” ”At one time, people were buying a bag of rice at the cost of N18,000 but they are now buying it at between N13,000 and N15,000. The price is coming down.
“In the next few months, God willing, the price of a 50kg. bag of rice will come down to N6,000. It is achievable, it will be a reality,’’ he said.
The Chairman, Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN), Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, said that the associations had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to slash the prices of both paddy and processed rice.
“We have agreed at N110,000 per tonne of paddy. In the market, rice will come around N13,000 to N13,500 per 50kg. bag.
”Before now, we were buying paddy at N140,000 and N150,000 per tonne and we are selling our rice at N16,000 per 50kg. bag.
”If this MoU works, we hope to sell a bag of rice at N13, 000 to N13, 500, depending on where you are in the country,’’ Abubakar said.
Speaking during the meeting, Ogbeh commended the associations for their decision to slash the price of locally produced rice.
The minister, who noted that the biggest challenge facing rice farmers in the country was smuggling, said that the move would aid efforts to stamp out rice smuggling into the country.
”Let me express the appreciation of President Muhammadu Buhari and the Vice-President, Prof.  Yemi Osinbajo, to both farmers and millers because nobody can calculate what you have done to rescue our country that was very close to disaster.