Guyana and Nigeria implement farmer support amid falling grain prices

Governments in Guyana and Nigeria are implementing financial interventions to protect farmers from falling global grain and commodity prices.

In Guyana, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha stated that a slump in international grain prices has lowered local paddy prices. To mitigate this, the government has provided nearly $2.7 billion in support to rice farmers following an intervention developed by President Dr. Irfaan Ali. Despite market challenges, Guyana has seen rice production rise from approximately 500,000 tonnes in 2020 to 825,000 tonnes last year.

In Nigeria, the Federal Government has launched the ‘Renewed Hope Guaranteed Minimum Price Programme’ to protect more than 11.5 million households. Ayo Sotinrin, Managing Director of the Bank of Agriculture, announced that the scheme will pay maize farmers N350,000 per tonne to prevent losses caused by prices falling below production costs. The program also includes the purchase of sorghum and soybeans, with the Bank of Agriculture aiming to aggregate over 500,000 tonnes of grains.