A so Rocky Christmas: Buhari’s Ricey Yearnings, Pricey Year, and a Dicey Yuletide
This Christmas could be the last Muhammadu Buhari will celebrate in Aso Rock as a President if he does not run for Nigeria’s highest office in 2031.
And little wonder, at the beginning of the year, he rallied all the bags of rice in the country to Abuja to showcase to the people and the world that the country now produces abundant and affordable rice for everyday consumption, especially during his last presidential Christmas.
“As President Buhari unveiled the largest rice pyramid in the world on Tuesday, January 18, 2022, the prevailing message of the event was an increase in local rice production and cheaper rice for Nigerians”, Dataphyte reported.
But Mr Buhari’s Rice Pyramids have vanished, together with the Naira value to purchase them and other foods.
Besides the cut-throat price of rice and other foods, the prices of non-food items and other services have risen to unprecedented levels this year at the same time with increasing unemployment, fuelling fears of dicey yuletide celebrations.
Ultimately, a decline in local rice production and yield in 2022, coupled with a population growth that exceeds growth in rice production for three consecutive years, may contribute to fewer and smaller plates of rice this Christmas.
Buhari’s Ricey Yearnings
At the top of Mr Buhari’s list of agricultural products needing financial intervention is rice production.
The federal government launched the Anchor Borrowers Programmes, a development finance initiative by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in November 2015.
According to the CBN, the Anchor Borrowers Programme targets 9 exclusive agricultural commodities:
I. Cereals (Rice, Maize, wheat etc.)
II. Cotton
III. Roots and Tubers (Cassava, Potatoes, Yam, Ginger etc.)
IV. Sugarcane
V. Tree crops (Oil palm, Cocoa, Rubber etc.)
VI. Legumes (Soybean, Sesame seed, Cowpea etc.)
VII. Tomato
VIII. Livestock (Fish, Poultry, Ruminants etc.)
IX. Any other commodity that may be decided upon by the
Why Rice?
Rice is the commonest staple food in Nigeria, with no close substitute. Insufficient local production and import of rice lead to the scarcity of these grains, contributing significantly to food inflation and general inflation.
To this end, President Buhari said the launch of the rice pyramids marked the beginning of lower rice costs in the market. “I am aware that the bags of paddy will be moving straight from here to rice milling plants across Nigeria, which leads to the release of processed rice to the markets by the rice millers. The measure will aid our efforts at reducing the price of rice in Nigeria”, Dataphyte reported.
However, Nigeria’s 2.08% increase in rice production to 5.35 million metric tonnes in 2022 did not reduce the gap between the higher demand and lower supply of the product nor the price of its 5 common brands.
Millions of Nigerians consume one rice variant every day, ranging from local rice, imported rice, ofada rice, long grain rice, basmati rice, and so on.
These are used to make delicacies such as white rice, fried rice, coconut rice, and jollof rice, among many other delicacies. But the Jollof brand is the country’s greatest pride and the commonest meal at parties and seasonal celebrations like Christmas.
To boost its local production, President Buhari ordered restrictions on rice imports, denying rice importers the needed forex for imports.
He also closed Nigeria’s land borders to forestall the import of rice from the neighbouring countries, especially the Benin Republic.
To further discourage rice imports, the President placed a 70% tax on imported rice from anywhere.
No other president in recent history has gone out of his way in his yearnings to make Nigeria self-sufficient in its rice production like President Buhari.
Why local production is not enough
President Buhari believed in the rice dream so much that he boasted that Nigeria was producing enough rice to meet local supply and export. Data refutes this claim.
Unfortunately, the increase in local rice production still needs to catch up to the increase in population.
Secondly, Mr Buhari’s aspiration for local rice sufficiency by 2022 also fails due to decreasing yield after the 2019 peak yields.
This year, local rice production declined by 1%, and rice yield per hectare declined by 2% compared to the 5-year average.
A Dicey Yuletide: Why there may be fewer and smaller plates of rice and other delicacies this December
Yes, rice may be the food item most coveted as gifts by people, and company staff, in the yuletide season, alongside items like groundnut oil, vegetable oil, and proteins like chicken and beef.
The yuletide season is around Christmas day, from December 24th to Jan 6th. Due to the fact that this period coincides with the end of the year and the beginning of another, many families are in a festive mood, regardless of their faith.
Due to the festivities during the yuletide, many families make more purchases of food, clothing, and other items.
Unfortunately, as President Buhari marks his last Aso Rock Christmas this December, there might be fewer plates of rice and other delicacies on the people’s tables than he would have desired.
The prices of rice and other common food items have risen significantly between 2020 and 2022, just as many more people became poorer.
The price of food and non-food imports has also risen in astronomical proportions due to galloping foreign exchange rates.
Between 2018 and 2020, the number of multidimensionally poor people in Nigeria rose by 5%. However, between 2020 and 2022, the number rose by 37.5% from 96.7 million to 132.9 million poor people.
In the end, a fast-growing less-productive and poor population, in the face of rising food and non-food prices, would have a hard time crossing 2022 to 2023 with much food and fun.
Those with enough food and funds need to be intentional about sharing with neighbours and friends to ease this transition to another year for many children, women and men who lack in silence.