Rice farmers and traders have expressed worries over the possibility of a price hike of the commodity in the last quarter of 2022, particularly during the festive season in December, due to what they perceived as a lack of interest from the various governments, to make the product available and affordable.
The people were speaking in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, during a market survey on the impact of the Federal Government’s launch of a 1.2 million rice pyramid in Abuja, six months ago.
January 16th 2022 will go down memory lane in the country’s agricultural sector, when the Federal Government displayed over a million bags of rice pyramid, showcasing its capacity for mass production of the staple food.
It is now the second half of the year, but the traders and consumers are yet to come to terms with the whereabouts of the product, which they thought would have flooded the market.
Some key players in the agricultural sector, particularly rice farmers, believe that the exchange rate, cost of transportation and unavailability of raw materials for farmers, will further increase the cost, by the last quarter of the year.
For now, Nigeria-produced rice is sold for between twenty-nine thousand and thirty- two thousand Naira in Bayelsa State, making it unaffordable to even the average income earners.
(Editor: Ifeanyi Mark)
