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Nigeria: 'Rice Importation Dangerous'
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This Day (Lagos)
12 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Saka Ibrahimand Yinka Kolawole
Birnin Kebbi/Osogbo
Chief Research Officer, National Cereal Research Institute (NCRI), Birnin Kebbi, Mr Ayodele Christopher Uwala, has said the Federal Government order of massive importation of rice is dangerous to the economy.
Uwala said instead, both federal and state government should encourage massive production of rice by Nigerian farmers, to stop the current food crisis. He said imported rice are not fresh, because they are from the countries grains reserve, adding that they are not proteinous, because they are those that have been in the reserve for five to six years, before sending them to some African countries.
He said the local rice are more proteinous than the so called foreign rice, which are polished before sending to needy countries.
Also, a foremost industrialist and agricultural expert, Chief Olatunde Badmus, at the weekend said the only way out of the present food crisis in the country is for the Federal Government to inject at least N100 billion into the Agricultural sector of the economy.
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Badmus who is the National Vice-President of the Apex Farmers Association of Nigeria , said this in Osogbo, at an event marking his 62nd birthday, while answering quesitons on food crisis.Uwala said, "flooding our borders with foreign rice will not help our farmers, it had happened before. If you analyse imported rice, the protein content is very low, compared to what we have.
What they are sending to this country is from their grains reserve. They are not sending the newly harvested rice, it is rice that have been in their reserve for about five to six years.
Uwala said Kebbi State alone can feed the whole nation with adequate support from the state government, adding that about 52 high yielding rice varieties have been made available to Kebbi farmers, which he hoped will soon result in a bumper harvest.
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