Why price of rice is on increase – Stine boss

A foremost indigenous rice producer, Chief Akai Egwuonwu, has attributed the high cost of rice to the paucity of paddies in the country.  He however said the cost might decrease by the next harvesting season, with effect from November 2016 to next year. Egwuonwu, who is the chairman of Stine Industries Ltd, makers of Stine […]

A foremost indigenous rice producer, Chief Akai Egwuonwu, has attributed the high cost of rice to the paucity of paddies in the country. 
He however said the cost might decrease by the next harvesting season, with effect from November 2016 to next year.
Egwuonwu, who is the chairman of Stine Industries Ltd, makers of Stine Rice, Oyoyo Rice, Euro Rice and the famous Anambra Rice, said the local manufacturers were striving to fill the gap created by the government’s ban on importation of foreign rice.
Speaking with Daily Trust in Lagos after the company and others were conferred with the African Product Acceptability Award by the Institute for Government Research Leadership Technology, he said Nigeria was on the verge of attaining self-sustainability in rice production, adding that thousands of farmers were currently on the farm growing rice.
With more and more people taking to rice farming, coupled with the 440-ton daily capacity of Stine, the largest in the country, the chairman posited that the current hike in the price of the commodity would be a thing of the past early next year.
He said the high cost was further aggravated by the foreign exchange crisis, noting that all the implements for rice production were imported.
Egwuonwu said, “Currently everything is going up. The cost of dollar is going up and you know most of the farm implements are imported – from the fertilizers down to seeds, down to insecticides, down to tractors, they are all imported. You expect prices to go up in line with the market forces.
“Another thing you have to put into consideration is that government has stopped the importation of foreign rice. It has effectively stopped that. So as a result of high demand, you expect prices to go up because there is a gap to be filled. So as soon as that gap is filled, hopefully from next year, Nigeria will start seeing price decrease in rice. This year, it may still go up slightly but by the next harvesting season, say from November, prices would go down.”
He stated that Nigeria should begin to grow more paddies to confront the scarcity of paddies being experienced in milling rice.
He expressed optimism that with the government’s efforts through FADAMA and other interventions, there would be more output next year than this year and prices would start to go down.