‘FG buys rice only when there is glut’

The federal government recently released the list of Guaranteed Minimum Prices (GMP) for selected crops for 2014, how do you intend to enforce the price? The programme has been on for quite sometime now. For about eight years, we have been implementing the GMP. Every year, we advertise in the newspapers for farmers to know […]

The federal government recently released the list of Guaranteed Minimum Prices (GMP) for selected crops for 2014, how do you intend to enforce the price?
The programme has been on for quite sometime now. For about eight years, we have been implementing the GMP. Every year, we advertise in the newspapers for farmers to know the minimum guaranteed price at which government can purchase from them incase they do not have buyers. We have 33 silo complexes in the country and we also have 48 warehouses. They are used to implement the GMP. Our storage capacity is 1.3 million metric tonnes. That price we have advertised will enable the farmers to know the economic value of their crops.
Is the price applicable to other buyers in the open market and what would you do if buyers refuse to buy at the GMP?
What I will say is that the GMP is the minimum value that those crops will sell in the market. Prices in the market are usually higher than that one. We have a national committee on GMP that calculates the GMP for each crop every year. They meet three to four times a year to look at the market indices before they arrive at the GMP. They consider other factors like the cost of production including the land, labour, inputs, etc. That price that we have is to allow the farmers have remunerative price for their products, so that when they sell, they will not sell at a loss. So, we arrive at a figure that will enable them meet their minimum requirements as farmers. We are not forcing people to buy at GMP. We use the GMP when farmers cannot sell because they don’t have buyers. We don’t even go to the market to buy. It’s when they have surplus we then buy at GMP. Usually, farmers make minimum profit of between 5 – 10% from it. So, it’s not at a loss at all.
You said you don’t go to the market to buy, how do you buy and who buys the crops for you?
We have what we call licensed buyers and the commodity associations. It’s either we use the licensed buyers or the commodity associations that we contact when we need the crops. Farmers can also supply if they can meet our requirements. We have some requirements for buying the products.
What are those requirements?  
The requirements are; one, it must meet certain moisture content, two, impurities must be at certain percentage. You know, if the product is not dry enough and we store, it will develop mould that leads to deterioration of the grain. At times, if moisture content is high, we still buy from farmers but we have to dry it further to a safe moisture level before we store them.
Are the farmers aware of these requirements?
We create awareness on that. We have the GES programme in the country now which enables us to send messages to the farmers through their handsets. They have information on how to plant, how to harvest, how to process, and how to preserve so that they will engage in good agric practices.
What do you do with the crops after buying?
We use them as national reserve incase there is disaster. We don’t pray for disasters but at times there are man-made or natural disasters, just like last time when we had floods in the country, Mr. President approved that we release 40,000 metric tonnes of grains to the 36 states and the FCT. So, we were able to release that to cushion the effect of the floods that time. Apart from that, we also buy the crops to implement the GMP that we are talking about. We have the storage capacity, so we can purchase grains from farmers into the reserve. It has dual purpose; for reserve and to implement the GMP for farmers.
Why was wheat not included in the list of crops for the 2014 GMP?
Wheat is just being developed in Nigeria. Just before the Agricultural Transformation Agenda of Mr. President, wheat yield in the country was just about 800 kilogrammes per hectare. That yield is not economical for farmers, but the variety that they are now promoting in the ministry, the yield per hectare is about 5-6 metric tonnes. So, there is need for us to develop wheat to a certain level before we can arrive at the guaranteed minimum price. We are yet to get to that level, but we encourage farmers to plant wheat, we encourage them to process it, we encourage them to store it. By the time it gets to the level where we can develop the GMP, we will do it and allow farmers to sell at that price if they don’t have buyers to buy their wheat.
Wheat farmers are complaining that the government is encouraging them to produce but they don’t have market for their produce, what are you doing about that?
Yes, this has been taken care of.  The honourable minister has directed for the mopping up of the wheat in those areas. You know, we call our minister ‘farmers’ minister’ because he has the love of farmers. That’s not a problem, we have moved into the field. Our people in the Chad Basin Research Institute and the wheat value chain are moving into the field to ensure that what the farmers have produced are purchased from them so that they will not have excesses with them.
We learnt that about N922 billion has been approved by the federal government for mopping up of some quantity of wheat, is that true?
No. That is not true. N922 billion is a lot of money. That’s not true. Even thestorage capacity we have in Nigeria is 1.3 million metric tonnes and at the current market price, we need about N100 billion to stock them. So, the N922 billion is not correct.  
Do you have any idea of the amount approved?
No. I don’t have any idea.