Recession , FG says :Nigeria may start selling a bag of rice for 40, 000 naira by December

This-day reports:

The federal government at the weekend warned that unless Nigerians ramp up the production of rice, a major staple in the country, and take advantage of current agricultural policies, the product could sell for as much as N40,000 a bag b

y December.

The government noted that with over 3.5 million tonnes deficit in the national supply of rice, there was the dire need to put emergency measures in place to curb the rising price of the commodity, disclosing that President Muhammadu Buhari already ordered an unfettered access to his office to discuss the way forward as part of measures to reverse the trend.

The Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, who spoke during a town hall meeting with farmers and other stakeholders in Bayelsa State, maintained that the $22billion spent annually on the importation of food was adversely affecting the economy, given that the dollars to import the product was no longer available.

The minister, who also visited some privately-owned farms in the state, with a view to partnering them in agricultural production, noted that the situation was even scarier with the recent projection that by 2050, Nigeria's population would have increased to 450 million.

"We were told that our population will be 450 million by the year 2050, that is 34 year from now, that is, our population will be three times this number and if we cannot feed ourselves now, how do we feed ourselves in the next 34 years.

"We have to start today, not just in production but on the entirely value food chain. Those growing the crops will only get 20 per cent of the entire food value, but those in other value chains like processing, marketing get the huge part of the value than those who are actually planting the crops.