CBN, RIFAN Partner On Rice Price Reduction
- Millers get 27,000 metric tons of rice paddies nationwide
BY VICTOR OSOWOCHI – Disturbed by the continuous rise in the price of rice nationwide, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is partnering with the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) to distribute 27,000 metric tonnes of rice paddies directly to millers nationwide on Thursday, June 24, 2021.
The development is part of the ongoing partnership package by both organisations aimed at bringing down the price of rice in the country, according to CBN’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Osita Nwanisobi.
Nwanisobi said already Kaduna State has been selected as the key location for the paddy allocation exercise which will be done simultaneously in States that recorded the highest quality of rice harvests during the last farming season.
He explained that the new strategy was in line with the apex Bank’s mandate of ensuring price stability and maintaining its focus as a people-centered Central Bank.
The CBN spokesperson further said the paddies’ allocation is expected to trigger the required drop in rice prices across the country; boost availability, and ultimately check the activities of middlemen seeking to create artificial scarcity along the supply chains.
Nwanisobi noted that the direct allocation from RIFAN warehouses across 16 States of the Federation is due to the earlier sale of paddy aggregated as loan repayment under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) to millers from the rice pyramids unveiled in Ekiti, Gombe, Kebbi, and Niger States.
