Nigeria named world’s biggest rice importer in 2019, after China

A report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture says Nigeria’s rice imports will jump 13 percent next year to 3.4 million metric tons, Bloomberg reports.

The projection means Nigeria will be the world’s biggest rice importer after China.

“China and Nigeria are projected to remain the largest rice importing countries in 2019, followed by the EU, Cote d’Ivoire, and Iran,” the USDA said in its latest Rice Outlook released on Tuesday, November 13.

“Nigeria and Egypt are projected to account for the bulk of the 2019 import increase,” it added.

The forecast growth is a setback for the Nigerian government, which plans to stop rice imports by the end of this year.

The government had plans to stop rice imports by the end of this year to save foreign currency.

Production had increased more than 50 percent since 2012 to 3.7 million tons last year, while domestic demand rose 4 percent to 6.7 million tons in the 2017-18 year that ended in May.

Rice farmers in Nigeria have reported a drop in output since last year due to a combination of higher input costs, insecurity and widespread flooding in the main growing regions.

“The rain has not been favorable to rice farmers this year,” Mohammed Sahabi, chairman of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria in Kebbi, one of the main rice-growing states, said by phone.

“We lost more than 20,000 hectares of unharvested rice this year in Kebbi alone,” he added.

Current global production exceeds consumption by 2.3 million tons, according to USDA, with 2018-19 “global ending stocks” projected to reach 163 million tons, 17.8 million tons more than previously forecast.

Meanwhile, the federal government says it is considering fixing a guaranteed minimum price for agricultural produce to reduce the fluctuating and high cost of commodities.

Chief Audu Ogbeh, the minister of agriculture and rural development, disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday, November 13, at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between tractor companies and Agriculture Mechanisation Company.

Ogbeh frowned at the act and idea of people buying cheap grains during harvest, store and sell them at exorbitant prices.

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