Contending with pebbles in local rice

The issue of tiny sands in rice since the local rice revolution started in the country last year is generating wider attention. In this report by ELEOJO IDACHABA with agency reports, analysts say it is a serious concern in view of global standard.

Face to face with reality

“My problem with this local rice policy of the government is that it is not safe to eat because of the number of stones in it. Each time I want to cook, the number of minutes it would take me to pick the stones is enough to get the foreign rice ready; that is basically my problem with local rice, otherwise it is sweet,” says Mrs Linda Attah, a mother of two. She said apart from the fact that her children have aversion for eating local rice, she said when they remember that they have to crack a stone when eating, the simply protest whenever she serves them for lunch in their schools.

This is the same complain from many parents on why they prefer the imported or foreign rice to the local ones.

In an interview with Blueprint, a media personality, Sandra Busari, said she was aghast when a major parastatal in Abuja gave her and some of her colleagues bags of rice last Christmas only for them to discover that the bag with the branding Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) was full of tiny stones which makes it impossible to eat even though it is sweet.

She said, “I was delighted when I got a short message that I should come to a particular office to pick a bag of rice for the last Christmas season. When however I cooked it, I discovered that there were tiny pebbles inside for which it was almost difficult to chew. I had to practically throw away that particular pot and took my time to pick the stones before cooking another pot again,” she said.

Reacting to this, the president of Paddy Rice Dealers Association of Nigeria (PRIDAN), Muhammad Auwal, said most farmers in the rural areas still use the traditional method for rice harvesting and processing, saying the crude practice had left some Nigerian rice below standard and unable to compete favourably in the international market. “In Paddy rice, we have a mechanism that ensures that customers do not raise any complain about the rice we sell because they are the reasons we are in the market.”

Farmers group to the rescue

Whether it is Paddy rice or Ofada rice or any other produced locally, investigation however shows that the story is the same. It was in the light of this that a farmers group, the Nigeria Farmers Group and Cooperative Society (NFGCS) recently said that one major way to boost local rice consumption among Nigerians is to invest in local fabrication of de-stoning machines.

National coordinator of the group, Mr Tedheke Retson, made this known at the NFGCS farm, Gaate in Nasawara state.

Retson, who was reacting to complaints that some of the local rice purchased during 2019 yuletide were filled with stones, said de-stoning had become necessary in view of Nigerians’ continued apathy to local rice.

He said that beyond border closure, governments at all levels as well as relevant stakeholders must begin to work towards making local rice stone-free so as to increase demand and boost production.

“The major challenge with regard to production and with stones is that we do not have proper de-stoning machines.

“What does it take to begin to fabricate and make de-stoning machines in Nigeria, grading machines in Nigeria that can work towards properly de-stoned rice in Nigeria?

“It has to form a part of the Nigeria question and what is that Nigeria question?’’ he asked.

He urged Nigerians to continue to patronise local rice while relevant bodies and stakeholders continued to work to improve the standard.

While admitting that a lot needs to be done to make Nigerian products, particularly rice, more acceptable locally and internationally, Retson urged Nigerians not to give up on the country.

He noted that most robust economies of the world started on rough paths.

“The stone is a process of our development. We would rid the rice of stones, as we rid them of the stones we will get better with fabricating our parboiling equipment.

“As we get better with parboiling, we get better with colour sorting.

“As we get better in colour sorting, we get better in using rice for pharmaceutical products, for other value addition to rice.

“Not just as staple food, but also as a source of major industrial growth and industrial revolution in Nigeria.

“In the 1980s, nobody wanted to buy anything made in China, but today, the world is made in China. Nigerians must understand that it will first get worse before it becomes better.

“There is no country in the world that became an engineering or technological power house overnight.

“Have we forgotten so fast that in 1957, Toyota was rejected by the Americans?

“Who is the largest car making company today? Toyota. Because they went back home and corrected that flaw and made it better. That is what Nigerians need to do.

“Whatever we suffered in December, the question we need to begin to ask is what is it that needs to be done at the local manufacturing plants across this country to make their rice better?

“It is for us to set up national research institutions across the country and bodies like the one in Ibadan, we should begin to fabricate de-stoning machines.

“How can we have research institutions in Nigeria that are involved in fabricating of equipment and are telling us that there is stone rice in Nigeria?

“What is their doctorate degree for, what is their research for, if they cannot make a common de-stoning machine?’’ he asked.

On how NFGCS has been able to ensure that its rice, ‘Gaate Gold’, is stone free, he said that the group did not hesitate to invest in de-stoning machines to give Nigerians the best.

Speaking on alleged sharp practices by some rice dealers following the border closure, Retson urged relevant agencies to be up and doing to bring such persons to book.

He said, “Our failure as a country is our fault as a people.

“A couple of weeks ago, it was in the news that men of Nigeria Custom Service raided one of the biggest rice markets in Nigeria and confiscated a lot of rice imported into this country.

“What we must do is to become more effective with regard to monitoring of the system.

“What must be done is that anybody selling any brand of rice in Nigeria without the appropriate tag, and proper identification, should not be allowed. That rice should be confiscated.

“If it is seen that the federal government, state or local governments set standards with regard to rice production and nothing is being done with regard to quality assurance and standardisation, then institutions that are responsible for those jobs should be punished,’’ he said.

If Nigeria’s rice must compete in the global market, analysts say attention should be given to standards especially in line with the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Services (NAQS) standard to avoid being rejected abroad.

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