FG approves N60bn for rice subsidy

Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbe, disclosed this to State House corespondents after a meeting of the National Food Security Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Friday.

Joined by Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi state, the minister explained that the purpose of the subsidy is to help bring down price of the commodity in the country.

He said: “There is a subsidy programme coming up. Government has approved some money N60 billion to support the rice industry to bring down prices. But we are going to handle it differently.

“We don’t want to get into petroleum subsidy problem. So, a committee is looking at it with the Ministry of Finance.

“We think that it is better for us to loan money to the millers, farmers and distributors at a very low interest rate, so that the capital doesn’t disappear, so they have cheaper credit to do their business that should impact on the price of rice in the market.

“When we are ready we will let you know.”

The minister spoke of plan to ban fertilizer NPK 151515 which has been in use in the country for many years, saying that the ban became imperative because it adds no value to crops.

He explained: “We call for the ban of fertilizer NPK 151515 which has been used in the country for many years but recent research revealed its not useful for any crop or any soil.

“Soils differ and so does crop, to believe there is one uniform fertilizer you can spread for every crop is a fallacy. And it’s because we have done soil test and change the formulations of fertilizers, local blenders that some of the yields we are getting now are rising from two tonnes per hectares to five and six. So the president is looking into that and see how we can deal with it. “

In his remarks, Bagudu said the council’s attention was drawn to the report by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) which suggested that Nigeria remains a heavy importer of rice despite government’s claim to the contrary.

He said: “We drew the attention of the council to a report by the US department for agriculture which suggested that Nigeria has been importing rice or about to the tune of about three million tonnes.

“We informed the council that contact has been made with the US agency to tell us the basis for the report because it’s not consistent with the report available to us.