The National Chairman of the Rice Millers Association of Nigeria (RIMAN), Peter Dama, has warned that the Federal Government’s trade policies on imported rice are severely threatening domestic processors, forcing several mills to close operations due to high local production costs and an absence of agricultural subsidies. 

Speaking to newsmen, Dama explained that while reduced tariffs have lowered retail prices for urban consumers in markets like Lagos, the influx of cheaper foreign grain is undercutting local agribusinesses.

Dama stated that while consumers welcome lower prices, the policy presents long-term risks to national food security: 

“This importation, Lagosians are saying that they are happy because of the waiver. They can now buy rice for N48,000 and N49,000… The waiver is working for them, but killing the industry in Nigeria.” 

He emphasised that major exporting nations, such as India, China, Malaysia, and Japan, heavily subsidise their agricultural sectors, allowing their exporters to flood international markets with lower-cost grain. 

In contrast, Nigerian farmers and millers receive little direct financial support, leaving them exposed to severe cost disadvantages.

Dama further highlighted how soaring local overheads,  including daily labour wages, high electricity tariffs, and transportation fees, continue to erode operating margins. 

Illustrating the dramatic inflation across supply chain logistics, Dama highlighted how skyrocketing manual loading costs directly inflate the final market price of domestic rice: 

“Loading and offloading rice products in the truck. If you are going to send your rice, say, to Lagos or Kano, you need labourers to come and load it. Before, they were loading for you at N15 per bag”. 

“Today, a bag, they load for N500. And your truck is carrying 600 bags. Before it was N50, but today it’s N500 per bag to load. So you see all these cost implications are things that take prices up. And that is what is affecting the industry.” 

The policy landscape has evolved since the Federal Government’s initial 150-day zero-duty waiver approved in July 2024 to curb food inflation; under subsequent tariff adjustments, import duties on select agricultural commodities were reduced rather than eliminated. 

Nevertheless, RIMAN and the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) maintain that continued tariff reductions without matching domestic support jeopardise local investments and commercial rice processing.

Source: Punch News
Image Credit: Nigeria Star News