Some rice-producing states, in collaboration with the private sector, invested massively in local production. It was part of their strategic response to the Federal Government’s push to achieve self-sufficiency in rice by 2020, diversify the economy and create jobs. But, the investments are being threatened by floods, which washed away rice farms across the country. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports.
These are certainly not the best of times for stakeholders in the agric sector, including government, farmers and investors in local rice production. While they are still agonising over smuggling, which is, perhaps, the biggest threat to rice production in Nigeria, the spate of flooding, which hit major rice-producing states across the country, has tossed a fresh threat on their path to reaping bountifully from their investments.
The floods, which came in the wake of torrential rains that forced the country’s two main rivers (Niger and Benue) and others in the rice-growing states to overflow their banks, are said to have submerged hundreds of hectares of rice farms. This resulted in huge losses to investors and rice farmers, while also causing a serious setback to the Federal Government’s quest to achieve self sufficiency in rice by 2020.
The Nation learnt that from the Southeast state of Anambra to the South-south state of Edo, the northern states of Adamawa, Kebbi, Niger, Kano and Katsina, it’s been a tale of woes by investors and rice farmers in the past few weeks. Many of them watched helplessly as several metric tons of un-harvested rice were washed away in what the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has described as Nigeria’s worst flooding in six years.
For instance, about 20 per cent of the 110 hectares of rice field at the Leventis Farm in Agenebode, Edo State, have been washed away by flood. The farm, cultivated by farmers with state government’s support, under the FADAMA III financing project, was said to have been submerged by floods from the Niger River.
At least, 21,000 hectares (51, 892 acres) with 168,000 metric tons un-harvested rice have also been washed away in the past month in Kebbi, one of Nigeria’s main rice-growing states. The State Chairman of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Mohammed Sahabi, who confirmed this, last week, said similar damage was reported by farmers in three other states, including Niger, Kano and Katsina.
Similarly, about 7,000 registered members of RIFAN in Adamawa State are said to be assessing the extent of damage on their farms by floods, which hit the state. With some farmlands in various local government areas especially those along the bank of River Benue submerged, the Association was emphatic that the earlier predicted bumper harvest in the state was under threat.
The Anambra State Government and its private sector partners are also ruing the destruction of over 200 hectares of rice farm at Omor in Ayamelum Local Government Area of the state by flood.
The Executive Director of Anambra State Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Cyprian Agupugo, said last week that the Okpoto River in the area burst its banks, destroying the Ojagbo Rice Farm worth millions of naira. He said some of the farmers took bank loans while others borrowed from relatives.
The affected states, in collaboration with the private sector, invested heavily in local rice production. It was part of their strategic move to diversify their economies away from oil, shore up their revenues from the Federation Account, which dropped significantly following the crash in oil prices, and also create jobs.
Aside helping to boost the domestic economy, the states’ involvement in rice production was specifically aimed at assisting the Federal Government to push back importation of the product, which has been gulping an estimated N365 billion yearly and achieve self-sufficiency in rice by 2020.
Nigeria, Africa’s largest rice consumer, consumes about six million metric tons of rice yearly. It spends an average of N1 billion daily. While half of the volume is imported mostly from India, Thailand, and Brazil, about 2.8 million metric tons are produced locally.
The country, however, targets total rice import replacement by 2020, which was why it encouraged state governments, particularly those in the rice-producing regions, to invest in local production. And the states responded with remarkable gusto, investing in irrigation projects and the distribution of high-yielding rice species to farmers.
But, as it turned out, it seems the state governments and their private sector partners may have got their fingers burnt.
Worst hit perhaps is Anambra, which before the coming of the floods targeted the production of 600,000 metric tons of rice this year, from its current yield of 345,000 metric tons.
The state hoped to achieve this feat through the execution of the Ihiala Irrigation Project, which is being supported by the World Bank through FADAMA 3 Programme.
The project, located in Ubahuekwem in Ihiala LGA, has a 450-metre Central Pivot System and a sprinkler with the capacity to cover over 110 hectares of land. It was to enable farmers take advantage of the dry season, which usually is a period of scarcity for them.
More importantly, the plan, according to Governor Willie Obiano, was to achieve three effective rice planting sessions annually. By ensuring all-year round rice production, the governor said he envisaged the attendant multiplier effect of empowering about 2,500 farmers in the state. This was why, under the project, over 5,000 hectares of land was cleared for farmers.
The State Project Coordinator for FADAMA 3 Programme, Mr. Chukwuka Egbue, also emphasised that the irrigation initiative became imperative because of the state’s low stock of lands.
By eyeing the production of 600, 000 metric tons of rice this year, the state hoped to become a net exporter of the product. With such quantity, the governor said the state would be producing more than required for local consumption, hence the need to export the excesses.
As part of the strategy to becoming a net exporter of rice, Obiano said during the recent inspection of the multi-million naira Centre Pivot Irrigation System at Egwe Agwa Ogbakuba in Ogbaru LGA that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had agreed to provide funds to the state government to buy off all the paddy rice produced in the state.
The arrangement allows millers buy all the paddy rice from government, and by so doing, the issue of unsold rice produced by the farmers would not arise.
The governor explained that the idea behind the off take initiative was to create a ready market for rice produce to eliminate the challenges experienced during periods of glut as well as to ensure that Anambra Brands of rice are processed by standard millers.
Sadly, however, the state’s dreams are now under threat of being submerged by rampaging floods, a reality that also steer owners of Coscharis Group in the face.
The state government has earlier inaugurated a multi-billion naira farm project in partnership with the Coscharis Group at Anaku town in Ayamelum LGA of the state.
The state government, The Nation learnt, committed N300 million to the project, known as the Coched Farms Project, which is a joint venture between it and the Coscharis Group for the cultivation of 2, 500 hectares of rice per season, with a production capacity of 12, 000 metric tons per year in the first phase.
The Edo State Government is no less peeved. The Special Adviser to the Governor on Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security Programme, Prince Joe Okojie, expressed disappointment that the state’s pilot rice farms were being destroyed by floods.
Okojie, who visited the farm last week to ascertain the extent of damage, recalled that 280 hectares of rice farms were destroyed by flood last month at Iguoriakhi in Ovia South West lo cal government area.
He said the state government expected to harvest six metric tons per hectare, but the flood has reduced it to four tonnes per hectare. “We did 110 hectares of rice in Agenebode. We have a cluster of 110 farmers with each farmer farming one hectare. We were expecting four to six metric tons per hectare,” Okojie said.
He, however, added that prevent future occurrence, the state and its rice farmers “Would have to attempt to start early next year. We started planting in May this year. We will start early so that we can prevent further disaster,” Okojie said, assuring that “We will have a conversation with the farmers to see what government can do.”
Similarly, the Executive Secretary of Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency (ADSEMA), Muhammed Suleiman, said the agency had begun compilation of accurate data of the affected communities in the state, where he confirmed that thousands of farmers were affected by the flood across the state.
Setback for rice self-sufficiency
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu, had in a statement outlining the achievements of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration since he assumed office, alluded to the gains so far made in the rice segment of the agric sector.
He said, for instance, the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has made available N82 billion in funding to 350, 000 farmers of rice, wheat, maize, cotton, cassava, poultry, soy beans and groundnut; who have cultivated about 400,000 hectares of land.
According to Shehu, the ABP substantially raised local production of rice, as yields doubled from 2-3 tonnes per hectare in areas, even as Nigeria’s paddy production doubled compared to previous levels.
He said between 2016 and 2018, eight new rice mills have come on- stream in Nigeria, while the country’s milled rice production increased by about 60 per cent, from 2.5 million MT in 2015, to four million MT in 2017.
The presidential spokesman added that the sector has seen more than a billion dollars of private sector investments in the production of rice, wheat, sugar, poultry, animal feed, fertilisers, etc, since 2015.
The Executive Director, Finance and Risk Management, Bank of Agriculture (BoA), Mr. Niyi Akenzua, also said the Federal Government has saved about $800 million by encouraging local production of rice.
Akenzua spoke at a briefing in Lagos ahead of the “Meet the Farmers Conference” (MTFC) 2018 scheduled for October 10 in the nation’s commercial hub. The conference, which is organised by Crenov8 Consulting, is aimed at exposing farmers to the opportunities in agro-export, especially to Dubai and other Middle-East countries.
