Yau Aladuwa, a 60-year old peasant in the farming village of Buntusu in northern Jigawa state, told IRIN: “This decision not to import the rice has thrown us into despair because we thought the [rice] import would ease the food shortage we are experiencing.”
Harvests from last season were poor and higher food prices this year have forced many into begging and menial jobs, Aladuwa said.
However Ahmed Rabiu, vice president of Kano Chamber of Commerce, told IRIN the massive order never made sense.
“It would have taken a minimum of three months to import and distribute the rice to the people that needed it and by then many farmers will have started harvesting their crops which will make the import worthless,” he explained.
The Nigerian government had on 1 May announced it would import 50,000 metric tonnes of rice worth US$600 million as an interim measure “to cushion the impact of global food crisis on vulnerable Nigerians”.
One week later, on 7 May, agriculture minister Abba Sayyadi Ruma rescinded the import decision and instead approved the investment of US$85 million in a credit scheme meant to support local rice processing as part of measures to attain food sufficiency.
The government also suspended duties on rice imports for six months and ordered the release of 11,000 metric tonnes of grains from its strategic food reserves for sale at one-sixth its market value.
