Why local rice revolution may not survive in Daura

If you sell local rice in Daura under the current price regime, it will be very difficult for you to recover your investment, not to talk of making a profit. Located in Katsina State, home to President Muhammadu Buhari, Daura town is a major spot for rice smuggling activities. Kongola, a border settlement along the […]

If you sell local rice in Daura under the current price regime, it will be very difficult for you to recover your investment, not to talk of making a profit.

Located in Katsina State, home to President Muhammadu Buhari, Daura town is a major spot for rice smuggling activities.

Kongola, a border settlement along the Nigeria-Niger Republic border is the hot spot and it will cost you just N100 to access from Daura.

This is where lots of the smuggled rice come to. In fact, a Niger Republic-branded 50kg bag will cost less than N10,000 in the settlement and between N11,500 and N12,000 in Daura town; and it is displayed everywhere for buyers.

No local rice brand in the country sells at that price in any of the Nigerian markets. They are sold for N14,500 to N17,000 which will make it very hard for anyone who takes it to sell in Daura to even recover his money.

Abubakar Mohammed, who goes to Kongola regularly told this reporter that rice is even cheaper there than anywhere else and it seems little is being done to stop the influx, a situation that is making producers in the country uncomfortable.

Millers are also sad that smuggling is a major challenge militating against rice production and business in Nigeria – and that is happening right behind the president’s house despite his avowed stance on rice production and self-sufficiency in the country.

President of the rice millers association Muhammed Abubakar Maifata in an interview with journalists in Abuja, lamented that smuggling was capable of crippling rice business in the country.

He appealed to the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies to pursue a more workable approach to deal with the menace

“Smuggling is our major challenge; rice keeps on coming through land borders despite the fact that government has banned importation through the land borders,” he said.