The President, Rice Dealers Association, Daleko Branch, Lagos, Mrs Silifat Akinsete, has called on the three tiers of governments to improve on rice production in the country.
Akinsete told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Saturday that the production of local rice was still low and had made the commodity expensive and scarce.
“The assistance of the government is needed in the production of local rice, since the tariff on imported rice has increased since January this year.
“The price of both local and imported rice has continued to rise because the local rice farmers lack enough incentives to help them produce more.
“Even the local rice that is our own, that is the `Ofada’ rice, is even more expensive than the foreign rice.
“A tin of Ofada rice has increased from N350 to as much as N500, while that of foreign rice goes for between N200 and N300,” she said.
Akinsete said different states needed to improve on providing incentives for rice farmers in order to give room for mass production, which would in turn create more jobs.
“We can produce our own rice in large quantities in this country and make life better for ourselves,” she said.
