Buhari and Nigeria’s rice revolution

Rice, is one of the most consumed food in an average Nigerian home, with a consumption per capita of 32kg. Given this scenario, we had to increase rice importation so as to meet the increasing demand. Though this seemed sensible at first yet the effect it has on smallholder and subsistent rice farmers and the […]

Rice, is one of the most consumed food in an average Nigerian home, with a consumption per capita of 32kg.

Given this scenario, we had to increase rice importation so as to meet the increasing demand. Though this seemed sensible at first yet the effect it has on smallholder and subsistent rice farmers and the nation’s foreign exchange was probably not given due consideration.

In the past six years, the federal government has prioritised boosting rice production.

Before 2015, Nigeria spent billions of naira in importing shiploads of rice, especially from Thailand. The implications of this were- rice farmers became poorer as they did not get the much needed attention from the government. A bag of rice then could barely buy a bag of fertilizer. Hence rice farming was being seen as an occupation for the poor and jobless in the society.

To correct this wrong, President Muhammadu Buhari on assumption of office initiated the process to make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice production. His words became actualised with the launching of the Anchor Borrowers Program (ABP) through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); a program designed to boost agricultural yields, halt food importation and address negative trade balance.

As a result of the ABP, Nigeria has witnessed a consistent growth in rice production. In 2017, Nigeria produced 4,536 million tonnes of rice; 4,470m tonnes in 2018; 4,538m tonnes in 2019; 5,040m tonnes as of July 2020, and about nine million metric tonnes as of the end of 2021.

The setting up of rice mills is not left out in this development. The number of rice mills have grown significantly from six in 2015 to over fifty in 2021 and many more are in various stages of completion.

Also, rice importation has successfully been curtailed as seen in the incremental reduction. Thailand which exported 1.3 million metric tonnes of rice to Nigeria in 2014, exported 58,000 metric tonnes in 2016 and 2,160 metric tonnes as at the end of 2021. This is not to mention the number of jobs that have been created and preserved.

This is what has translated into the mega rice pyramids recently unveiled in Abuja. The 13 pyramids comprising one million bags each represent the aggregated paddy rice submitted as repayment of loans by members of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) under the 2020 dry season and 2021 wet seasons.

Jantiku Ijanada wrote via [email protected]