Rice Scarcity Loom,Farmers Start Protest In Kebbi State

Thousands of rice farmers under the aegis of Kebbi State Rice Farmers Association staged a peaceful protest in Birnin Kebbi to protest rice importation. The farmers marched through the streets of Birnin Kebbi carrying placards before retiring to the Government House, to lodge their complaints to Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu. The state chairman of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Alhaji Muhammad Sahabi Augie, while delivering his speech to the governor, said the proposed importation of foreign rice into the country was not in the best interest of local farmers. Governor Bagudu who is the chairman presidential committee on rice and wheat production in Nigeria, said he would convey the farmers’ message to the president. Meanwhile, the national president of RIFAN, Alhaji Aminu Goronyo, in an interview with Daily Trust on Tuesday, May 24, said the protest would continue all over the country.Goronyo said government has done everything possible to ensure that Nigeria feeds itself with locally produced rice adding that: “The enemies of this country who are mostly foreigners have connived with our people to import rice into the country. “We will continue to protest every now and then you will hear protest as long as that moves is in the pipeline, we will not allow them to displace the 24 million people, who are gainfully employed by the FG rice policy."