Chinese invade Ebonyi, buy off local rice
The food crisis that has shocked nations across the world has forced the Chinese to invade Ebonyi State, where they are buying off the rice that is locally-produced by the people.
Sunday Independent gathered that the state, a major food basket in South East Nigeria, is now the toast of the new invaders, who may be capitalising on the general low awareness of Nigerians about the current situation to stockpile foods in their country.
In a move that seems to enjoy the encouragement of the state government, foreigners, believed to be Chinese merchants, are said to have been noticed buying and freighting rice in huge quantities out of the state, a development that has raised wide-ranging feelings in the area.
It was gathered that while the situation has created some sort of boom for the farmers, local consumers, for whom availability of the commodity had not presented major problems, are now contending with the problems of soaring prices.
Traders, who seem hamstrung by the trend, are however lamenting that the state government was not pre-empting the situation, by buying and stockpiling the commodities, a situation they believed could create a lot of problems in future.
Expressing the views of some of the traders in Abakpa Market, the main rice market in the state, Chief Johnson Okereke said the state could regret not stopping the trend, if it did not also stockpile the commodity.
Also, the chairman of Abakaliki Rice Mill Owners Association, Vincent Nwibo, has cried out that the state may witness acute hunger in a very near future, unless the state government intervened in time with the loans it promised farmers.
He noted that the hike in the prices of food items in the state, particularly rice, was as a result of the upsurge, where people from different parts of the country and foreigners invaded the Abakaliki rice mill, with trailers on daily basis, to buy off the commodities for processing and re-selling within within and outside the country.
According to him, before now, a bushel of Abakaliki rice that sold between N2,100 and N2,200, depending on the grade, rose to between N3,800 and N4,000 immediately the foreign buyers came.
He noted that although many problems, including natural disaster and pest, have been hampering rice production in the state, the major problem that could lead to serious drop in production would be insufficient manpower. He, therefore, called on the state government to develop a policy that would encourage Ebonyi youths to embrace farming, through the local government councils.
He also condemned the idea of Nigeria importing rice from other countries, saying that farmers in the country should be encouraged to produce and stock food for the rainy day.
But the Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr. Emmanuel Echiagu, dismissed the fear, saying the development had somewhat sparked off superior attention to the rice farming alongside other crops in the state, pointing out that the quantity of rice being planted this season was greater than before. "A few weeks ago, trailers came from different parts of Nigeria to rice mill to buy. I also understand that some foreigners came here to buy off our rice. The good thing about it is that it has stimulated production," he said.
According to him, many serious farmers have besieged his office demanding fertilisers, which the state government subsidised up to 40 per cent. "I believe it is going to boost rice production in the state this year, not just rice production but other crops like cassava and yam, in which we have comparative advantage. "So, people are really interested in boosting production this year," he added.
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