Nigerian farmers and traders are complaining that the closure of borders with neighboring countries would affect them since the farmers will not be able to trade their produces across the border and traders would not be able to import food grains from neighboring states for local use. The decision taken by the Nigerian government to close the borders id to make Nigeria less dependent on oil and to catalyze the agriculture sector to make the country again a food bowl of Africa. But the traders feel that the border closure means Nigeria is choked off from supplies until the next harvest by local farmers.
The farmers feel that perishable goods like tomatoes are rotting in the field because the border is closed and customers have stopped coming to buy them. That is true with other vegetables also, which have a short shelf life. Farmers apprehend that this trend would end them up in huge debt. The government has a different take on this. Cheap goods smuggled or imported are hampering domestic producers. Therefore, it had ordered a partial closure of the border with Benin in August. Later, the borders with all neighboring countries were closed completely this September. Another dimension is that Benin is still smuggling subsidized fuel in Nigeria. The border closures are making the life of the traffickers difficult. They are instigating farmers to raise their voice since the margin of profit for the smuggled oil from Nigeria is pretty high. But the farming community is not at ease with such reasoning. They say they are finding difficulties in meeting both ends meet since the produces cannot be sold and more so, they cannot send their children to school since they cannot afford the fee and the cost towards school books. Nigeria, of late, has been ramping up rice production, with local output rising by 60% since 2013. The local rice production is at 4.8 million tons, as on last year, but was still not enough for the 190 million Nigerians.
