Rice farmers in Kebbi State are growing richer but they say they are not content with self-comfort until they produce enough grains for the nation. OLUGBENGA ADANIKIN reports
Kebbi State people have always loved to farm rice, but in the last few years there has been an explosion in the business. Now there are sprawling rice fields stretching as far as the eye can see. And it is not restricted to Argungu, Birnin Kebbi, Suru or Yauri; other communities are just as involved in growing the grain. In fact, the staple is grown all the year round in the state during the harmattan, dry and rainy seasons. You could say rice is king in Kebbi.
Farmers in various communities in the local governments are gradually becoming millionaires. A good number of them now go on pilgrimages without necessarily waiting for state government sponsorship.
Last farming season, rice farmers got 1.5 million bags of paddy, with a bag selling for about N10,000. Their target is to increase production to 2.5 million bags of paddy in 2018, with 50 per cent commitment to helping the country attain self-sufficiency in the staple food.
Alhaji Muhammadu Sanni, a rice farmer with two wives and 11 children, is among those who have enjoyed significant yield. He has been farming rice for 33 years.
“My rice paddy increased from 21 to 32 bags with the government interventions and having this pumping machine has gone a long way to improving my livelihood,” he said. “In a farming season, I make N300,000 in a year.”
Fifty-eight-year-old Alhaji Ibrahim Saliyu has eight ridges of rice which is almost an acre. He has only one wife and two children but after both children got married, he sustained himself and his wife from proceeds from the rice farm. He sold a bag of paddy at the rate of N10, 000 and was able to make eight bags from his field. Nevertheless, he has kept expanding his cultivation.
Even while in public service, former Kebbi State Head of Service, Alhaji Buhari Alidu Jega was a farmer; on retirement he continued with tilling the soil. He has 30 hectares of rice farm in Jega community from which he harvests at least 750 bags of paddy every farming season.
“Even though I was a civil servant when I started farming I’m still into it because it is lucrative,” he said, advising youths to embrace agriculture and become employers of labour.
The journey to end rice imports and attain self-sufficiency started with support from the Federal Government Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP). No fewer than 70, 000 farmers piloted the initiative in Kebbi. The Central Bank of Nigeria-led project in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and rice millers was targeted at supporting farmers with farm inputs and markets. It was inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 17, 2015.
According to a guideline document obtained from Development Finance Department of the CBN, the initiative “is intended to create a linkage between anchor companies involved in the processing and Small Holder Farmers (SHFs) of the required key agricultural commodities. The programme thrust of the ABP is provision of farm inputs in kind and cash (for farm labour) to small holder farmers to boost production of these commodities, stabilise inputs supply to agro processors and address the country’s negative balance of payments on food. At harvest, the SHF supplies his/her produce to the Agro-processor (Anchor) who pays the cash equivalent to the farmer’s account.”
The benefitting farmers are usually between a group of five and 20 for easy administration and monitoring. Meanwhile, the CBN intervention sourced from N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) targeted about 225, 000 farmers nationwide. Fortunately, the project appeared to be paying off as farmers are increasing their land cultivation and yields with a ready-made market (off-takers). This has resulted in a drop in rice import into the country from Thailand. According to the Minister of Information and Culture, there is a sharp drop by over 90 per cent.
The largest recorded increase in production ever in the state and the country was last year, when 1.5 million bags of paddy was produced by Kebbi rice farmers. This year there is a 2.5 million bags target aside from the expected production from more than 30 states. The national rice consumption is about 7 million metric tonnes annually. This is currently being met through smuggling from neighbouring countries but the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has been striving to address this.
The Chairman, Presidential Task Force Committee on Rice and Wheat Production, Governor Abubakar Bagudu lauded the project. He said rice farmers in the state will require N55 billion to produce enough rice to meet demands from major millers and help realise national demand. He cited the rice pilot project in Kebbi State which had N11 billion loan from the CBN, yet produced beyond expectation last year. With right partnership and support, the country, he said could start buying a bag of rice at N10,000. Already, two of the largest rice milling facilities in the state, Labana and Walcot are largely responsible for off-taking the paddies. The Dangote group recently visited the state to set up an additional rice milling factory. This has given farmers a huge relief in processing and reaching the markets. During a recent visit to Kebbi by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, additional milling plants with joint capacity of 370 tonnes in Kamba, was being constructed and owned by an entrepreneur. The minister said the Federal Government was creating more jobs through agriculture and contributing to food security. According to him, the investment was paying off, as the country’s rice import bill has dropped significantly, opening new windows of opportunity for the current and potential farmers. “The programme aimed at food production, job creation, income generation and self-sufficiency, has been a tremendous success in Kebbi State. The partnership between Kebbi and Lagos states on rice value chain that produced the Lake rice has also solved the challenge of glut by providing ready-made market for rice farmers.”
A visit to Kamba rice market close to the Niger-Benin Republic border revealed how international trade is being carried out. Tonnes of paddy rice are being sold on a daily basis except for weekends especially Sunday when little sale is recorded. To facilitate greater trading and mobility, the state government revealed that a major road connecting the town with the two neighbouring countries will soon be completed.
At the tour of the various rice farms, Kebbi State Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Garba Dandiga assured the state will help federal government to achieve 50 per cent self-sufficiency target in its rice production bid. Already, the state is said to have met its local need on the commodity.
He said, “We want to help Nigeria achieve 50 per cent of its rice requirement. We are aggregating dry and rain fell seasons. This year, we want to record 2.5 million tons but the important thing is we produce more rice paddy in the dry season than the rain fell.
“Last year, this is where they sold 1.5 million bags of rice paddy. It is the biggest in the history of the state. We have eight of this in the state; there is one at Argungu, Jega, among others.”
The federal government since commencement of the current administration has strived to reduce imports and promote local contents. In the Agricultural Promotion Policy (APP) 2015, also known as the green alternative, there were outlined plans to drastically reposition the economy through agriculture. From 2015 till date, the country was able to cut the importation of rice from Thailand from 644,000 metric tonnes to a little over 20,000MT currently.
“Officially we have been able to eliminate 90 per cent of rice importation into Nigeria. We’ve grown the number of rice farmers in Nigeria, from five million two years ago to about 12 million today. Also, there is a pilot scheme going on this season and we are doing 200,000 hectares of rice and each hectare employs 25 people.
“Now, that will be another five million people that will be added to the rice revolution. This programme has been flagged off already and as I speak to you today it is ongoing in Kano where 31,000 farmers are being empowered by the Central Bank of Nigeria this season,” Mohammed said.
Experts in the agriculture sector applauded the inter-state cooperation which brought about Lagos-Kebbi (Lake) rice. While Kebbi has the vast land to cultivate and mill the commodity, Lagos serves as the market. The Kebbi state governor, Bagudu affirmed the partnership agreement caused huge demand for local rice in the country.
The innovation changed orientation of many Nigerians to appreciate local rice consumption, especially for its nutritional benefits and affordability. In order to gain greater acceptability, the state government during festive season subsidies the commodity to ensure wide reach. No doubt, product acceptability in Lagos is an indication of reasonable national acceptance. It is believed that if a product succeed or otherwise at the centre of excellence, its survival is easily determined.
Bagudu, who acknowledged the acceptance by the Lagos State traders said the traders often determines mood of the nation in terms of product. “The people of Lagos saw it as a good product better than the imported ones. That created demand for Nigerian Rice in general, not Kebbi rice because they have an enlightened market. They supported the programme and demand was created.
“Just last week, I had a meeting with traders association and millers in Daleko, Iddo and other markets. They shared their experiences and they were absolute and categorical that the Nigerian Rice is better than imported ones. We spoke about how to make it better through better supply chain and make it affordable.”
Such gesture, if replicated in other states, is expected to boost wide production, as it has been proven that more than 30 states in the country can cultivate rice. The Governor further canvassed greater collaborations among state governments to help achieve nationwide food security and promote national development. He called for greater funding of the sector and for it to be recognized as real business.
Justifying why agriculture should be treated as a business, Bagudu cited instance of Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) which got N4 trillion funding from the federal government solely to clear bad debts. “When the AMCON was created in 2010, it was to take over bad loans from the commercial banking system. It was paid N4 trillion. That money was not agricultural related, it oil and gas and share certificates.”