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from the it's-enough-to-make-you-sick dept.
Nigeria has seized over 100 bags of plastic rice smuggled into the country, where prices of the staple food are skyrocketing ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays.
[...] The rice is suspected of having been smuggled or illegally shipped in from China through Lagos port, a senior customs official in Nigeria's commercial hub told AFP.
The 50-kilo bags branded "Best Tomato Rice," had no date of manufacture and were intercepted Monday in the Ikeja area of the sprawling city, the official said on condition of anonymity.
"We have done a preliminary analysis of the plastic rice. After boiling, it was sticky and only God knows what would have happened if people consumed it," Ikeja area customs controller Mohammed Haruna was quoted as saying.
Nigeria has banned rice imports as it seeks to boost local production.
Source: teleSUR
(Score: 3, Interesting) by jmorris on Saturday December 24 2016, @05:31PM
Encouraging local food production is good. Banning imports while people are hungry is bad.
If you want local production, first create the preconditions. Rule of Law, stable property rights, sound money, etc. Once people can own a plot of land and feel secure that it won't be seized, they won't be driven out in the next social upheaval, etc. they can worry about investing in it. With a working financial system they can borrow a bit to buy some productivity enhancing machinery, irrigation, etc. Then they need to be able to sell what the grow at market prices and keep enough to plant again next year, pay the bank for the loans on the equipment and profit enough to make it all worth the bother and risk.
All of that is simple and basic, and at least one is utterly impossible in the hellholes of the world where people starve.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 24 2016, @05:44PM
nice fearmongering and shaming there, libertarian by any chance?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 25 2016, @12:50PM
Nigeria is a pretty advanced, stable, capitalistic state.
AFAIK the only place a significant number of people are going hungry is in the areas where Boko Haram (militant Islamic fundamentalists) are fighting against the government.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 25 2016, @06:47PM
You do understand this is about an African country, right? Machinery is only useful long-term. These people can only imagine short-term.