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Tag: rice

  • Niger Rice Mill to create over 10,000 jobs

    Niger Rice Mill to create over 10,000 jobs

    Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello has said the unemployment rate in the state will reduce next year as no fewer than 10,000 workers will be engaged at the Niger State Rice Mill.

    He spoke at the inauguration of the multi-million dollar Integrated Rice Processing and Milling Complex built by Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in Bida, the state capital.

    He said the Rice Mill will also boost agriculture in the state with the production of 1.5 metric tonnes of rice daily.

    “It is expected that the Rice Mill will generate over 10,000 direct and indirect jobs, when it comes fully on stream and this will engage our youths and women as from next year,”he said.

    Bello said the bumper harvest recorded this farming season was a result of the policies of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration aimed at repositioning agriculture as the mainstay of the economy and to ensure national food security.

    He, however, called for caution on the export of essential farm produce to neighbouring countries for monetary gains, saying that such ventures may expose the country to food insecurity.

    The governor said plans were underway by the state government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to buy off the major food items and store them to ensure food security.

    “The development was in fulfill-ment of my pledge to explore all avenues to attract investors and projects to the state, especially through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) initiatives. The state Ministry of Agriculture will ensure the proper management of the rice mill by engaging competent hands to manage the facility,” he said.

    The Korean Ambassador to Nigeria, Noh Kyu-Duk, said the gesture was informed by Nigeria’s huge potential, the comparative advantage of cultivating rice and becoming self-sufficient.

    Kyu-Duk noted that the non-availability of high rice production capacity was the major obstacle of achieving self-sufficiency in rice production in Nigeria.

    The KOICA’s Country Director, Mrs Sook Hyun Park said the project, which started in 2008, can process 1.5 tonnes of rice per hour with parboiling, drying, sorting and packaging facilities and can be increased to three tonnes per hour.

  • Ebonyi and foreign rice ban

    Apparently buoyed by emerging support for its ban on the sale and consumption of foreign rice, the Ebonyi State government has to set up a task force to ensure full compliance.

    Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh had commended the state government for the decision to ban the sale and consumption of foreign rice during his assessment tour of some rice projects in the state. Ogbeh who was accompanied by the chairman, Presidential Committee on Rice Production, Abubakar Bagudu and CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele commended Governor Dave Umahi for ensuring massive rice production in the state. He said “I heard you banned the sale of foreign rice in your state, God bless you for it”.

    Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Abdullahi Adamu had in a different forum, endorsed the ban thus: “I support the ban on sale of foreign rice in Ebonyi. We have to start somewhere. What we know is that local production is not enough but we should consume it and that is not an excuse for importing rice”.

    Umahi directed the taskforce to “confiscate foreign rice found in our markets, the person should give us the certificate of the quality of the rice and has to provide the import duties paid for it, where he bought it from and give us Standard of Organization of Nigeria certificate to prove that the rice is not poisonous”. He sought to justify these measures on the grounds that some foreign rice were poisonous having been stored for over 20 years abroad before they were smuggled into the country.

    On the face value, it would seem all is well with the decision of the Ebonyi State government to ban the sale and consumption of foreign rice. This is especially so as the seeming overall objective is to discourage the consumption of imported rice and boost the consumption and production of local variant. This thinking is further supported given that Ebonyi has great potentials for the production of local rice which is said to be of better nutritive value than the imported variety. There is also a lot of economy of scale that will follow if our people are made to consume the rice we produce. It will create jobs, enhance income per capita and catalyze a positive leap in the general well-being of our people. These benefits are not in doubt.

    There is also the compelling imperative to discourage the seeming insatiable appetite of our people for what is foreign. Thus, the inward looking approach for solutions to our developmental problems cannot be faulted.

    These may have been some of the considerations that compelled Umahi to ban the sale of foreign rice –a product the state has elastic capacity to produce. Through the ban, it is seeking to encourage the consumption of locally produced rice which will in turn lead to increased production, job creation and improvement in the general well-being of the people. Conceived along this line, the ban would seem a step worth its while.

    But its success would depend on a number of extenuating variables some of which are beyond the control of the state government. The first presumption of the policy is that Ebonyi has available, enough local rice to meet domestic demand. The veracity of this claim is clearly in doubt. For a start, it is doubtful if the state government has accurate statistics on the quantity of rice consumed in the state yearly. It is unlikely to have one since it has no way of monitoring the quantity of foreign rice that hitherto came into the state.

    Even if it is privy to the quantum of local rice produced in the state, the unavailability of reliable data on consumption could in effect, render the policy nugatory. There could be scarcity of the product which in turn, will lead to price increase. It is also doubtful Ebonyi can produce sufficient rice to feed its people when the commodity is sold and consumed beyond the shores of the state.

    If Umahi discovers that the rice produced in his state cannot go round as it is sold in other states, will he then turn around and ban its sale outside the boundaries of the state? This poser is at the heart of the contradiction brought to the fore by the sole action of that state in banning the sale of foreign rice contrary to extant policy of the federal government. The same contradictions were at play when Umahi directed the taskforce to extract from foreign rice sellers such information as certificate of quality, duties paid on the commodity and certificate from SON that the rice is not poisonous.

    These issues are beyond the mandate of the state government as we have a surfeit of regulatory agencies for such assignments. Moreover, Ebonyi State is a land locked state. It neither has a seaport or airport nor does it share borders with any foreign country. What then is the propriety in going into the markets to inundate retailers with all these details that ordinarily should be supplied by importers at the ports of entry? Why hold the poor retailers responsible for issues they know little or nothing about?

    How many of our rice importers have their head offices in Ebonyi and how many of them are from that state if any? These posers have been raised to underscore the incongruity in some of the demands the task force has been assigned to confront foreign rice seller with. They also reinforce the problems we run into when we roll out an isolated policy that ignores extant position of the federal government on the matter.

    Ebonyi State went beyond its mandate to have unilaterally banned the sale and consumption of foreign rice in the state. The action is loaded with more problems than whatever benefits it is bound to achieve.  Apart from the fact that it cannot guarantee sufficient supply of local rice, it will amount to an undue harassment of foreign rice sellers, most of whom are middlemen and retailers.

    For such a ban to have meaning, the initiative should come from the federal government. But it cannot do so because of the mismatch between domestic production and consumption. Besides, Nigeria is signatory to many treaties on trade liberalization that frown at trade restrictions or outright ban on the importation of commodities. So where does the Ebonyi case fit within this matrix and of what value will it be in the overall national calculations to increase the consumption and production of local rice?

    The federal government said it has initiated measures in several fronts to boost domestic rice production. These should be pursued with greater vigour. Audu Ogbeh has promised government’s rehabilitation of the Ettem Amagu Ikwo Dam, supply of rice harvesters, threshers and parboiling drums to the state. These are the issues to be vigorously pursued by the Ebonyi State government to ensure it gets its fair share of them.

    The overall objective now should be to substantially increase domestic production of rice that can fairly compete with the imported ones. Once this has been achieved, the lure of force as a veritable tool to secure local consumption compliance will fizzle out unilaterally. Then, Ebonyi will have no need for a task force that will confiscate imported rice within its shores.

    More importantly, with the phenomenal high price of imported rice, the availability of cheaper local variant should be a soothing relief to the people of the state. By simple economic laws, this will result in a shift of patronage to the cheaper alternative. If we still depend on force to get our people to consume our local rice despite its cheaper price, it should instruct we are yet to get our acts right.

    These are the issue to worry about. The right approach is to get more rice produced, refined in such a way that will command local patronage. Then, there would be no need to worry about foreign rice influx and use of taskforces to harass sellers of the commodity. For now, the approach of the Ebonyi State government to the matter is a verity of putting the cart before the horse; an exercise in shadow chasing.

  • We ‘ll start rice export by 2017, says CBN

    We ‘ll start rice export by 2017, says CBN

    Before the end of next year, Nigeria will start exporting rice, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said.

    Its Acting Director, Corporate Communication, Mr. Isaac Okoroafor, said this during a sensitisation/awareness programme for farmers in Bayelsa State as part of the apex bank’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme.

    Okoroafor, who said the CBN’s ABP had started yielding fruits, insisted that with the progress so far recorded by the CBN through its agricultural financing policies, the country would begin to export rice by next year.

    He said already the harvest in rice this year had exceeded the projections, noting that if the tempo was sustained, by the end of next year, Nigeria would not only meet its national demands but would export to other countries.

    Okoroafor said: “We started a pilot programme in Kebbi State with 78,000 farmers, cultivating an average of one hectare and that was when President Muhammadu Buhari launched the programme in March, last year.

    “The programme was to enable farmers plant three times in  a year – two dry seasons cropping and one rainy season cropping. I am telling you now that Kebbi State has exceeded one million tonnes of rice.

    “Not only Kebbi, Ebonyi state has keyed into it. We were there last week and Ebonyi is to give us over 1.2million tonnes of rice in one year. They are harvesting now, they are bagging and they are milling. Nigerians are booking their Christmas rice in Abakaliki.

    “Abia State has ordered rice from Ebonyi State Government. Others are keying in. In Kebbi, Jigawa, Sokoto, Cross River, rice is coming up. Nigerians are planting rice, producing rice. You need to taste Nigerian rice, it is fresh. Not the nine year-old rice from Vietnam, Thailand and India. Let us feed ourselves. Our rice is healthier, it is not preserved with chemicals.

    “We have been to Anambra, Niger, Jigawa, Kebbi, Sokoto, Cross River and Ebonyi just to ensure that this is not another talk show. We have seen harvest of rice which brought me to say that the harvest in rice for this year has so far outstripped our projections.

  • Dangote group to open rice mill in Kano

    Dangote group to open rice mill in Kano

    Dangote Group of Companies has finalised plans to establish a large scale rice mill in Kano, Kano State, with a capacity to produce 250,000 tonnes per annum.

    Executive Director Hajiya Halima Dangote, who spoke at the Dangote Day at the 37th Kano Trade Fair, said the mill would process rice harvested from Sokoto, Zamfara and Kano states.

    She noted that the group’s fertilizer project will be inaugurated by end of next year, adding that it will be the largest fertilizer plant in sub-Sahara Africa, with a capacity to produce 2.8 million tonnes per annum.

    “Our group has already begun rice production through an extensive outgrower programme in Jigawa State, which will be replicated in Zamfara, Sokoto and other states. This is why we are establishing the mill in Kano.”

  • Forum lists rice as key to prosperity

    Forum lists rice as key to prosperity

    Participants  at a rountable on rice, which featured major producers, have said the crop is essential to the continued health, wealth and prosperity of Nigeria.

    This is contained in the communiqué issued at the end of the roundtable on the rice supply chain development held in Minna, Niger State capital.

    It was organised by Agribusiness Supplier Development Programme (ASDP).

    The meeting was convened by ASDP, which is being implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL.

    They stressed  the need to create a standard to reassure producers and consumers on the quality of Nigeria’s premium rice. The discussions also considered the essential roles rice research and access to new technologies play in improving the livelihoods of farm families.

    To address the challenges faced by commercial banks in lending to farmers, the forum called on the government and the private sector to sensitise farmers properly on available finances from the banks and other sources as well as use of inputs and good agricultural practices to boost productivity.

    It emphasised the  need to identify real farmers and verify their farm sizes and holdings using appropriate technologies. Farmers, the communique maintained, should be encouraged to always honour agreements and stop side selling to strengthen the relationship with the financial institutions and off takers.

    The forum advised that state governments’ interference in the anchor borrower scheme should be limited to facilitating loan recovery, and that there should be  social networking and cross guarantee to check loan default among beneficiaries.

    The participants urged that there  should be timely financial support to farmers and extension services, as finance is an essential ingredient for attaining self-sufficiency in rice production. The current procedure of lending to the farmers under the anchor borrower scheme,the  farmers said should be reviewed to make it more flexible.

    They urged the government to establish grazing ranches at appropriate locations for herdsmen to check the destruction of farmlands and farmers-herdsmen conflict.

  • Concern over N720.2b yearly rice import

    Concern over N720.2b yearly rice import

    The Federal Government has invested a lot in rice production, yet the nation has not attained self-sufficiency. DANIEL ESSIET writes on what stakeholders say should be done to attain the mark.  

    To Sahabi Muhammed Augie, Chairman of Kebbi State Rice Farmers’ Association, Nigeria has what it takes to become Africa’s next rice granary. Ample, suitable land, water resources and a good climate are needed to expand rice production in the country.

    Augie believes that local farmers in the Northwest state have capacity to take rice production to greater heights in terms of quantity and quality. Rice is grown twice yearly —during the rainy season from January to June and during the dry season, spanning August to December in some parts of the country.

    But the access to improved varieties and capacity building remain a major challenge as many farmers cannot explore new varieties. Only few of them have the technological know-how on the application of improved agronomic management practices and good seed systems for high-quality yield.

    Augie believes that support in mechanisation would be an added advantage to abounding national resources, adding that mechanisation would make up for labour shortage for land preparation, weeding and harvesting.

    Rice is a staple menu in most homes across Nigeria. But imported rice accounts for over 60 per cent of its total consumption.

    It costs the country a whopping $1.8 billion (about N720 billion) to import about 3.2 million metric tons of rice to feed the population yearly. Local production accounts for a small portion of rice production and consumption.

    With the likelihood of the population hitting the 250 million thresholds by 2020 and rice production short of demand, something must be done. But experts say supply growth can no longer match population growth.

    But farmers are worried that concerted efforts are not being made increase rice production.

    According to the Coordinator of Women Rice Cooperative Union in Kogi State, Mrs.  Esther Audu, Nigeria can achieve its rice development vision with focus on the entire value chain, from seedling to production, processing, and marketing.

     

    State of the sector

    Since 1970, increased consumption in rice has created a surge in imports, a development that the forced the Federal Government to ban importation in 1985. The aim was to encourage local production.

    However, 10 years after, the ban was lifted as local supplies failed to meet rising demand.

    Despite last year February’s announcement that local farmers would add about 2.9 million metric tons rice stock from the 2014 season, the country lost N1 billion daily to rice imports, translating to about N360 billion annually.

    According to the Federal Government, the country lost more than N1.3 trillion to import waivers between 2011 and 2014. To address the trend, the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has reintroduced the ban on rice imports through the land borders, again to boost local rice production.

    With capacity to produce 3.2 million tons of paddy rice, or 2.0 million tons of milled rice, Nigeria is the highest rice producer in West Africa.

    Although rice grows well in all the six geo-political zones of the country, the demand for polished long grain, stone-free and odourless rice by the urban dwellers has been fuelling the demand for imported rice.

    The yearly demand for rice is put at about five million metric tons (MT) out of which about 3.2 million MT is produced locally. Rice importation accounts for a large chunk of the food import bill, estimated in excess of N1.5 trillion. This is expected to reduce as local farmers expand operations and improve on their farm yields.

    The latest ban has pushed up price with a 50kg bag, which hitherto sold for N10, 000, now selling for as high as N23, 000. Rice, often imported smuggled into the country through illegal routes, has contributed to the pressure on the naira.

    Going by the 2016/17 estimate, rice consumption is about 5.2 million tons, a four per cent decrease from the revised 2015/16 estimate of 5.4 million tons. The reduction has been attributed consumer’s declining purchasing power and rising market prices, triggered by price inflation and currency devaluation.

    Experts are pushing for transformation in rice cultivation to meet future needs and food security.

     

    Challenges

    The adoption of adequate mechanisation in rice cultivation of rice is low.  It was observed at meeting of stakeholders on rice production convened by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Minna, the Niger State Capital,  that lack of mechanisation undermines production and competitiveness of rice. Held under UNDP’s Agribusiness Supplier Development Programme’s (ASDP’s) Rice Supply Chain, the meeting was organised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, UNDP and Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL). Participants at the meeting spoke of the need to test small equipment, such as two-wheel tractors, row seeders, mechanical threshers, small combine harvesters and small mills and where possible, manufacture them locally.

    The engineering Director at the National Center for Agricultural Mechanisation (NCAM), Dr Yinka  Ademiluyi,  said that mechanisation will increase efficiency and that farmers will lose about 40 per cent of the crops with manual harvest.

    “But with a combined harvester, loss will be reduced to as low as 10 per cent. Furthermore, the time it takes to harvest is also reduced considerably”, Ademiluyi said.

    Agriculturists have urged the governments to engae research organisations when importing machinery to ensure that effective and durable implements and the technology adaptable to local operation are procured.

    Many farmers and research institutes have recommended the use of hybrid varieties and training of farmers on rice technologies to boost productivity.

    Nigeria has ability to plant rice thrice a year due to the general availability of water, use of early maturing varieties, direct seeding and synchronous planting.

    Addressing the  forum, Agricultural Production Advisor, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) Programme, Dr Unamma Victor Chyka,  representing Country Programme Manager, IFAD Country Office, Dr Atsuko Toda, noted that the  adoption of technologies  should be  more of a bottom-up approach and that there should be village-level demonstration trials to sensistise local farmers.

    According to him, IFAD provided an integrated platform to help farmers by creating, validating, disseminating and adopting new rice technologies.

    Other participants said a lot factors change the pattern of local rice production.  They said that weather-related quality eroded the high quality and integrity of Nigerian rice.

    The forum appraised the effects of government policies and other factors on production and consumption, the cost of fertiliser, energy, water and seedlings to farmers.

    The said the government must support production

    Rice seed expert, Africa Rice, Dr.  Abraham Attah Shaibu,  said the country,  with its vast water bodies for irrigation purposes, could become one of the best rice producer in sub-Saharan Africa.

    Abraham said farmers need to be educated on proper agricultural practices, especially on the need to tackle pests and diseases.

    RIFAN Chairman in Kogi State, Mrs. Peace Emaiku urged the government to empower farmers with capital to build infrastructure such as ponds.

    She said her organisation was mobilising farmers to engage in large-scale production.

     

    Boosting production

    President Muhammadu Buhari has promised that his administration would make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice production within 18 months.

    Speaking at a Ramadan breaking of fast with members of the business community, the President said that 13 states have been identified for the production of the crop.

    He said the Agriculture Minister, Audu Ogbeh, has already been briefed on how best to achieve the target. Buhari decried how the nation’s scarce resources were wasted on the importation of food items by his predecessors.

    In a bid to reduce rice import bills, Ogbeh launched a roadmap to promote rice revitalisation and import substitution programme to expand domestic rice production.

    A lot of farmers and groups have signified interest to support the ministry’s initiative. Their  motivating factors include:  high demands for and better returns from rice; availability of suitable land and better yields; stable prices compared to traditional crops; better shelf life and declining demand for and returns from traditional crops.

     

    Ensuring food supply

    The roadmap, known as “The Green Alternative”, for the promotion of agriculture from 2016-2020, emphasises strategic approach to food security, which aims to ensure the sustainability of food supply, food accessibility and affordable food prices to the public. To ensure adequate rice supply, the government said it is working on silos and buffer stocks of rice to meet the food requirement.

    Besides improving stockpile for strategic management and cost-effectiveness, the government also spoke of a plan to ensure production yield by upgrading existing infrastructure and to improve productivity in the granary and non-granary areas.

    Among the recommendations are: transformation plan for research and development (R&D) on the green revolution innovation in paddy and rice industry.

     

    Improved technologies

    Rice farming requires huge investment on the acquisition and maintenance of tools, equipment, irrigation and drainage systems as well as pest and disease management.

    Ademiluyi acknowledged the role of the development of agricultural technologies for improving the grain industry. He attributed the increase in grain production, to Sawah technology.

    According to him, much progress has been recorded in perfecting the technology and in developing a package of practices, citing many research programmes and projects of NCAM in partnership with other organisations.

     

    IFAD’s role

    IFAD, as a specialised UN agency, designed to eradicate poverty and hunger in developing countries, has been working in remote and rural areas to assist in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

    About 150 rice farmers in Niger State partook in IFAD’s e N50 million worth of inputs to increase their yields. Programme Coordinator,  IFAD’ VCDP in the state, Dr Mathew Ahmed, broke the news at the inauguration of support programme for small holder farmers in Katcha Local Government Area.

    He said: “We have supported 150 rice farmers from six different cooperative groups with a grant of N25 million to match the N25 million they contributed for this programme.

    “Fifty hectares of land will be cultivated by the clusters of farmers, numbering 25 in each group.’’

  • Increase in demand for rice excites farmer

    A large scale rice farmer in Asaba, Mr. Raymos Guanah, has said the demand for locally-produced rice is on the increase.

    Guanah, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Raymond Guanah Farms, Illah, near Asaba, Delta State, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Asaba that such a positive development was heartwarming.

    He said local rice “is well processed and cheaper than imported ones, hence the increase in demand.”

    “Nigerians are beginning to be aware that there is much difference between locally-produced rice and imported ones. Local rice is very nutritious.

    “The rice we produced last year has been bought, we have nothing left in stock,’’ Guanah said.

    Guanah, a former Commissioner for Lands, noted that one of the reasons for the increased patronage was because the rice processed in the farm contained no stone or sand.

    He said: “Because of the increased patronage in 2015, we are expanding our farm this year and this will result in more harvest at the end of this farming season.

    “In 2014, we cultivated 100 hectares and harvested about 300 tonnes of rice, while in 2015, we cultivated 300 hectares and harvested about 900 tonnes.

    “This year, we are expanding our cultivation to 600 hectares. The essence of this is to have more rice to sell.”

    Guanah said the multi-million naira processing mill the government inaugurated in the farm in 2014 had the capacity to produce about 200 of 50 kg bags of rice per day.

  • Rice: Kebbi relishes bumper harvest

    Rice: Kebbi relishes bumper harvest

    Rice growers in Kebbi State have overshot the production projection for the year. This is not only good for the state; it points the way to national economic recovery, reports KHADIJAT SAIDU

    There is great cheer in Kebbi State, and it is for good reason. At a time the country’s economy is in recession, triggering uncertainty, even despair across the country, rice farmers in the state have pulled off a stunning achievement. They have surpassed the one million tonnes of rice projected for the year by a significant 850 tonnes.

    The development has put Governor Atiku Bagudu is a jovial mood. He has been touring the rice fields with a smile on his face. The bountiful rice harvest means a lot to him and the state, and points to the road to national recovery. While it suggests that Kebbi residents are unlikely to face starvation, and the state economy will be in good health, the rice harvest makes the case for a vigorous return to agriculture as a means of solving the country’s various challenges. The development in Kebbi underlines and reinforces President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision for agriculture.

    Nigeria is blessed with vast arable land that can sustain commercial agriculture for both cash crops and food crops. Oil revenue in the global market has continued to shrink and agriculture becomes the alternative economic base that could replace dependency on oil. The federal government therefore did not hesitate to go back to agriculture which used to be the mainstay of the economy prior to discovery of oil.

    “Go back to the land and develop agriculture because the era of depending on oil is over,” was President Buhari’s message to farmers when he launched the dry season and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor  Borrowers Programme (ABP) in Birnin Kebbi, the state capital, on November 17, 2015.

    The President has made no secret of his determination to improve the base of Nigeria’s economy by reviving agriculture and opening the mines, among other measures.

    The CBN’s Anchor Rice Borrowers Programme, now one year old in the state, aims to boost rice and wheat production in Nigeria by providing loans to farmers.

    Thousands of farmers have seized the opportunity created by the ABP  to expand rice output.

    Rice farmers have been celebrating, claiming to have recorded a bumper harvest in comparison to previous years. Governor Bagudu  and  his deputy Samaila Yombe along with chairman of the state’s Rice Farmers’ Association    Alhaji Sahabi  Augie  took journalists  round the rice fields in Augie, Kalgo, Dandi, Bunza, Suru, Wasagu and Birnin-Kebbi local government areas where farmers where seen  displaying and celebrating their bumper harvest.

    Augie said the yield increase was due to improved seedlings and the assistance rendered to farmers through the ABP with over 500,000 hectares of cultivated land across 10 local government areas of the state.

    He said they have been producing rice throughout the year with Rima and Sokoto rivers serving the dry season irrigation farming.

     

  • Politics of rice

    Politics of rice

    •Federal Govt should ignore this and rather stay focused in its drive for self-sufficiency

    RICE importation into Nigeria must rank only second to petroleum products as the chief gulper of foreign exchange. For over three decades or so, Nigeria had imported about 3-6 million metric tonnes of rice annually, costing her about N1 billion naira daily. Those were the years of petrodollars and oil boom. Those days may have gone for good now and just as well.

    Today, Nigeria is poised to grow her own rice. She cannot afford foreign long grain specie anymore anyway. The oil boom is over so she is forced to look inwards and diversify. And rice, being Nigeria’s number one staple, she is faced with the option to either grow rice or forgo it.

    The efforts to rekindle the huge but latent rice industry actually gained ample fillip in the last couple of years. Huge investments have been made across every link of the rice chain – improved seedlings, funding, planting, harvesting, paddy management and processing. Large, glistening modern rice mills have been planted in many parts of the country. And the last (wet) planting season may well signal the expected fruitful culmination of these concerted efforts – a harvest of about three million tonnes is expected.

    However, a recent report suggests that some rice exporting countries may quietly be mounting opposition to Nigeria’s sufficiency in rice production. That reaction from Nigeria’s former suppliers of rice is to be expected considering that she is the second largest importer of the commodity in the world.

    Major rice industries in countries like India, Brazil, Thailand and even USA are sustained by Nigeria’s imports; many of these will lose huge revenues or pack up entirely if sufficiency is achieved and sustained here. There is, therefore, no doubt that the Federal Government must remain resolute and stay focused in its laudable drive to reclaim Nigeria’s lost glory in rice production.

    And it is not enough for government to focus on the need for local production alone but it must also watch every move of the erstwhile suppliers, the smuggling barons and their network of operators, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and all the neighbouring countries that have made a lucrative business of shipping rice into their countries for the sole purpose of smuggling same into Nigeria through her porous borders.

    For instance, a report late last week indicates that about one million tonnes of rice is stacked in warehouses across Nigeria’s borders waiting for the peak consumption period. This alarm was raised by the Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN). According to its chairman, Abubakar Mohammed: “Information at our disposal shows massive smuggling of finished rice into Nigeria. Our investigation showed that these products are berthed and warehoused in Republic of Benin, Niger and Cameroun at very little import duties and pushed into Nigeria where the perpetrators make unconscionable profits having paid zero duties at our borders.”

    Mohammed corroborated his assertion by stating that shipping records show consignments in question were parboiled rice and only Nigeria is reputed to consume such rice on the West Coast of Africa.

    While we commend the efforts of the federal and state governments so far in Nigeria’s rice production resurgence, we aver that the greatest opposition to Nigeria achieving self-sufficiency in that major staple commodity is Nigeria herself. Government must continue to whip the NCS into place to make it deliver on this crucial and strategic duty to the nation.

    There is urgent need to begin to invest in border security infrastructure because the NCS can only do so much manning a vast stretch of porous borders. It must be understood that becoming self- sufficient in such all-important commodity as rice production is not a sprint. It requires years of focused, painstaking efforts in efficient management of every link in the rice value chain.

    This requires a lot of discipline, hard work and sufficient presence of mind. It is a tough task reversing about four decades of malaise but that is the only option left.

     

  • Boost for rice output at UNDP forum

    Boost for rice output at UNDP forum

    How to improve rice production, among others, topped discussions at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) rice value forum held in Minna, the Niger State capital. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    How to enhance rice production dominated discussions at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)   forum held in Minna, the Niger State capital.

    Held under UNDP’s Agribusiness Supplier Development Programme’s (ASDP’s) Rice Supply Chain, the roundtable was organised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, UNDP and Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL).

    Rice farmers, processors, marketers and researchers, representatives of some stakeholders proffered solutions to problems.

    They listed weaknesses in the value chain as fragmented and small- scale production, poor application of advanced science and technology and low level of mechanisation of production stages, adding that post-harvest technology was not being given proper attention.

    They said rice seeds used by farmers were left overs from the previous season; and the ratio of farmers using certified rice seeds has remained low. These problems, the participants said, led to high cost of production, low quality and poor competitiveness.

    UNDP Inclusive Growth Unit Team Leader Dr Robert Asogwa said the forum aimed to provide solutions to the problems to ensure a secure future for the rice sector.

    Asogwa said UNDP would continue to contribute to rice farming with enhanced agronomic practices and technologies for smallholder farmers.

    He said UNDP was ready to work with the government and the private sector to boost rice production through crop improvement, disease and pest management, sustainable and profitable farming, and capacity building  for farmers.

    According to him, the organisation had made some headway in cassava and had started getting positive results from the projects farmers were undertaking.

    He expressed the hope that the joint effort would improve the productivity and practices of thousands of smallholder rice farmers.

    NIRSAL Executive Director Awoshafe Babatunde said the organisation facilitated the N65 billion loans to farmers.

    To address the problem of agricultural finance, he said NIRSAL was working with banks and microfinance institutions to make long-term commitments of capital for developing agricultural markets.

    For him, credit alone is not enough, but that an holistic approach is needed, including a range of financial and non-financial services.

    He added that NIRSAL supports  value chain finance (VCF) approach and that efforts have been  made through creative financing and partnerships to facilitate investments in agricultural finance.

    Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Chief Audu Ogbeh said implementation of government programmes would help reduce post-harvest losses.

    Represented by the Director of Planning in the Ministry, Musa Alhassan, Ogbeh said: “The Federal Government has banned the importation of rice and there is surplus across the country. This means there is result and it shows that the farmers and all government’s policies are aiding agriculture produce.

    “We are rice sufficient in the country by 2017. Nigeria will be self-sufficient in rice production. We are getting close as there is improvement on what we have been getting before. This will boost our economy,” he added.

    Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Nigeria Office Programme Officer Dr Umar Halilu said a significant increase in rice productivity and production could only be achieved through improvements in production systems, so,  the techniques farmers use must be enhanced.

    He urged farmers to adopt affordable processing technologies provided by the agency to  enhance the rice value chain, reiterating JICA ’s commitment to providing technical support and advice  to rice farmers.

    Niger State Agricultural and Mechanisation Development Authority  Acting Managing Director Abubuka Sadeeq said rice was the key crop grown by mostly smallholder farmers in Niger.

    He said the state was ready to collaborate with UNDP and other agencies  to enhance capacity building and efficiency in rice production, ensure farmers adopted technologies and innovations in rice farming.

    ASDP has three-fold objectives: first, to improve the quantity and quality supply of agricultural products by farmers and SMEs to markets; second, to provide smallholder farmers and SMEs with support in accessing the agricultural supply chains of lead firms; third, to contribute to national economies by developing agricultural products that meet market quality standards, ASDP Agribusiness Specialist, Dr Nelson Abila said.

    The approach for a rice multi-stakeholder platform recognises that  producers, processors and retailers should not compete as individual entities, rather, they should collaborate as strategic value-chains competing with others in the market place.

    Senior Lecturer, Department of Agricultural Economics, Dr Opeyemi Ayinde, maintained that with increasing challenges in rice farming, including limited arable land, impact of climate change, labour shortage and limited resources, there was the need to harness innovative solutions and farming technologies.

     

    Milling

    The majority of successful mills are large scale located away from most rice farming areas.

     

    Adding value

    According to the participants, adding value to rice would increase income and  encourage more farmers to add value to the produce.

     

    Credit

    Farmers often lack access to independent credit, both for farming as well as after harvesting. The forces them to sell immediately after harvesting, when supply is abundant and prices low.

     

    Production

    Women Rice Co-operative Union Co-ordinator, Kogi  State, Mrs Esther Audu, said farmers cultivated rice/cotton on plots ranging from an hectare to a few.

    To grow rice, she noted, many farmers relied on family or hired labour. Some farms are mechanised, using the latest technology to optimise fertiliser application and minimise superfluous irrigation.

    She emphasised the need for the  government to make tractors available for farmers and also distributed seedlings, fertiliser and other inputs to improve their productivity.

    Mrs. Audu identified lack of mechanisation, low quality inputs and poor funding as hindrances to rice production.

    According to her, peasant women play a key role: planting, weeding, transplanting and harvesting.

    With the deluge of cheap imported rice in the market, rice farming is slowly becoming non-viable, and with the loss of it various farm jobs women do.

    According to her, many farmers are not benefiting from the Central Bank  of Nigeria’s (CBN’s)  Anchor Borrowers programme.

    Other farmers of the scheme decried the late disbursement of input, which they said, affect their harvest during the rains.

    For agriculture to improve and for the nation to attain inclusive growth, participants noted that  banks should lend to agriculture.

    External Relations Director, Nigeria Markets11, Mr Godson Ononiwu, said the country has agricultural potential, though the price, quality, and supply of its rice were yet to meet international standards. The main problems facing the industry, he said, were a lack of adequate warehouses and seeds, as well as an inefficient market system.