The Federal Government has assured Nigerians that the price of rice in the market will fall by November.
This assurance was made by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh in Abuja yesterday.
The Agric Minister noted while addressing members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development that more Nigerians have returned to agriculture which spells a positive future for the nation’s agricultural sector.
Audu Ogbeh noted that by the next harvesting season which begins next month, the price of rice would start to crash.
Ogbeh said: “We will not encourage rice importation and there is no way our ministry or government can be involved in importing rice when we are working hard to be self-sufficient in local production. By November when the full-scale harvest starts, rice prices will fall.”
Recall that the Federal Government though the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, had earlier warned that should Nigerians continue the current level of consumption without a corresponding production, rice will sell for as much as N40,000 per bag.