Rice Farmers Association Blame Price Increase On Cartel, Middlemen

Some members of the rice farmers’ associations have blamed the continuous hike in the price of the product in Nigeria on the activities of unscrupulous farmers and middlemen in the sector.

The rice farmers’ leaders made this known in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday in Lagos.

The vice-chairman of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Mr Sakin Agbayewa, said the consistent fluctuations in the price of rice could be linked to human manipulations in spite of the government’s efforts.

“As regards the high price of rice, I think we are taking one step forward and five steps backward.

“Some few months ago, the Federal Government came out with a waiver, giving some companies a small waiver to import rice into the country in order to crush the price. And while that was on, did they mobilise the local farmers? That is where the issue lies.

“Although few farmers were empowered by the Federal Government with a 75 per cent reduction on the cost of production, others were given fertilisers for free.

“Now, the question is this. Those local farmers who were empowered, did they really cultivate anything?

“The main issue is that the rice price hike can be linked to a cartel that wants to frustrate government’s effort,” Agbayewa said.

According to him, while the waiver was on, they actually imported rice into the country, and the price came down, but while they were importing, they were also warehousing.

“Now that the importation waiver is over, the cartel is creating artificial scarcity.

“Also, some of the farmers who cultivate local rice—it’s not that we do not produce enough, but some farmers only capitalise on the shortage in the system.

“And with the shortage, they are now repacking local rice in foreign bags for selfish reasons. They do this to sell at high cost because they know Nigerians have this high taste for foreign things.

“There is a high level of insincerity and dishonesty among our people. Some unscrupulous farmers, middlemen, and even retailers can be blamed for the current hike,” he said.