As Niger prepares to feed the nation

The National Food Reserve Agency and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2009 estimated Nigeria’s annual rice demand to be 5 million metric tons, while production on the average is about 2.21 million tons. This leaves a deficit of 2.79 million tons which is abridged by importation.Niger State, under the leadership of […]

The National Food Reserve Agency and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2009 estimated Nigeria’s annual rice demand to be 5 million metric tons, while production on the average is about 2.21 million tons. This leaves a deficit of 2.79 million tons which is abridged by importation.
Niger State, under the leadership of Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, is harnessing and encouraging researches in the rice sector with a view to having practicable strategies for filling the country’s supply-demand gap.
In partnership with the state government, the Agriculture Graduate Association of Nigeria is involved in training of farmers on best farm strategies that would ensure greater rice production output.  
In 2012, it cultivated hectares of land in Sachi on which it demonstrated how triple cropping for rice within a year is a possibility that brings with it higher yields more than 60 percent of what could have been ripped through the rain-fed farming.
There is no doubt that the state remains a giant in rice production; with great potentials in irrigation agriculture.
Irrigation agriculture makes farmers less dependent on the irregular and unpredictable pattern of rainfall, drought and flood in the production of food and fiber. Water for plant growth can be controlled through provision of irrigation infrastructure. Furthermore, average yields per unit of land can be significantly increased under irrigation farming.
Niger State is located in the North central region of Nigeria. Blessed with abundant large water bodies such as Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro dams and rivers Niger and Kaduna, the flood plains of which are suitable for irrigation, has an estimated 682,000 hectares of irrigable land, out of which only 40,000 hectares have been developed, with only about 26,500 hectares being cultivated annually.
Niger State with about 4million people, a landmass of 8.6m sq km, more than 80% of which is arable land and many rivers and dams is an investors’ haven for agriculture. The state has tremendous irrigation potentials that are yet to be fully developed.
The rehabilitation and development of various irrigation sites in the state to ensure all-the-year round farming activity is an imperative if we must meet the food requirement of our population and engage youths and graduates in productive activities.
The famous Badeggi rice processing mill, the biggest in the West African sub-region is being resuscitated and made functional to boost paddy rice production in Nigeria. At present, Niger State under the auspices of the Fadama office has pooled all the farmers and co-operatives in the state under a co-operative banking scheme, in order to benefit from sundry loans for rice farming. Also, the state government has flagged off a 100 percent pilot scheme of rice production in Doko, where farmers have been granted loans to invest in the rice sector.
This is a test ground that has already commenced in Zone ‘A’ which will be expanded to the other zones of the state, and also broadened in the extant pioneer zone.
The government through the state ministry of agricultural has disbursed thousands of tons of fertilizer to encourage both rainy and dry season farming. No doubt that in 2008 the state was award the largest producer of rice in Nigeria and in 2009.
The United Nations Human Development Report Nigeria 2008/2009 adjudged Niger State the 6th on the per capita income/GDP, and there is no mistaking that Niger State is the alter ego of purposeful growth and development in Nigeria.
To boost agricultural production the government procured and distributed 139 tractors and assorted spare-parts to farmers in the state.  The state also trained 601 secondary school leavers on modern agriculture and development of community warehouses at Paikoro and Mariga local government areas.
Studies show that MDAs’ strategies towards sustainable poverty reduction in Niger State have paid off.  Reports released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on poverty rate in Nigeria revealed that Niger State has the lowest poverty rate in Nigeria, with 43.6% below the neighbouring states.
In developing the rice sub-sector, Niger State intends, apart from feeding Nigerians and exporting, to make real its vision of making “agriculture the engine of growth and transformation of the state’s economy towards achieving Vision 3:2020.”
Lawal Tanko is Information Officer, Office of the Secretary to the Government of Niger State and can be reached through  [email protected]