Fresh hopes for delicious local rice

Observers, nonetheless, say that rice, which is believed to have been first cultivated in parts of West Africa over 3,500 years ago, has evolved into a predominant feature in the menu of most families in Nigeria nowadays.However, concerned citizens bemoan the people’s absolute preference for imported rice in place of the locally produced variant because […]

Observers, nonetheless, say that rice, which is believed to have been first cultivated in parts of West Africa over 3,500 years ago, has evolved into a predominant feature in the menu of most families in Nigeria nowadays.
However, concerned citizens bemoan the people’s absolute preference for imported rice in place of the locally produced variant because of the poor quality of local rice.
They lament that increasing rice imports have negatively affected local rice production, while costing the country a lot of foreign exchange. As a way out, the Federal Government has, at different points in time, taken some measures to boost local rice production and discourage importation. The government once banned rice imports; and imposed a 10-per-cent levy on such imports, while implementing various rice projects in the last five years.
The projects include the establishment of 95 demonstration farms and the development of 13,442 hectres of land for rice cultivation under the National Special Programme for Food Security.
The Federal Government has also collaborated with FAO, USAID, ADB and China on some rice production projects, while the Presidential Initiative on Rice Production, Processing and Export aims at the annual production of six million tonnes of milled rice.
Besides, a N10-billion Rice Processing Intervention Fund has been set up by the Federal Government to give low-interest loans to investors.  The initiative is partly aimed at expanding the domestic rice processing capacity by a minimum of one million tonnes annually, while reducing the national import bill on rice.
As at July 2009, some of the 10 major rice processing companies that got loans from the Fund have commenced executing their projects.
In spite of the huge investments, available statistics indicate that annual domestic rice production stands at about 2.21 million tonnes, while rice importation costs about 695 million dollars (about N104.2 billion) yearly.  Consequently, the need to adopt a holistic approach in tackling rice production problems and enhancing food security in Nigeria, perhaps, compelled the Federal Government to initiate plans to triple domestic rice production. In March this year, the Federal Government and other stakeholders converged on Minna to launch a major plan to increase local rice production, improve indigenous rice processing capacity and enhance the marketability of locally produced and processed rice.

The National Rice Development Strategy (NRDS), which was presented by Gov. Babangida Aliyu of Niger, outlines the blueprint for transforming rice production, processing and packaging. The NRDS was developed at a workshop organised in 2009 by the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) to harness the contributions of various stakeholders and utilise them in efforts to transform rice production.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) sponsored the workshop, with support from other agencies like the World Bank, USAID, World Food Programme, AfDB, UNDP and NEPAD.  The strategy document was produced as part of plans to double rice production in Africa in 10 years and geared toward making Nigeria’s local rice to compete effectively with foreign rice in terms of quality and affordability. Under the initiative of the Coalition for Africa Rice Development (CARD), which was launched at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 4) in May 2008, 12 countries, including Nigeria, were selected to participate in the pilot phase.

The countries are also expected to kick-start the process with the production of national roadmaps for rice development.  Babangida says that as part of efforts shore up the public acceptance of local rice and boost the potential of Niger as a rice-producing state, his government entered into a 200-million-dollar (about N30 billion)  partnership with the Korean International Cooperation Agency on the establishment of a modern rice processing complex in Bida.
He says all the required facilities of the rice complex are on the ground, while their installation would commence in June. Babangida says that the government intends to ensure adequate supply of paddy rice for the complex through already identified rice farms and irrigation farming schemes.
He pledges that all non-functional irrigation schemes will be revitalised, with a view to covering more farmlands for rice production. Babangida says that the Badegi Rice Mill has been resuscitated and will now be managed, under a Public Private Partnership arrangement, to absorb the anticipated massive increase in rice production in the state.
“With the Badegi Mill in operation, over 30,000 tonnes of paddy rice would be added per annum to the national rice processing capacity,’’ he says.   Alhaji Salihu Gusau, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, says that under the NRDS, efforts are underway to raise annual rice production from 4.1 million tonnes to 12.8 million tonnes by 2018.  
“Now, we have a holistic strategy for harnessing the potential of the rice sector for the benefit of our people,’’ he says, adding: “This strategy focuses on all points of the rice value-chain and provides the missing links for the development of this vital sector.” Gusau notes that Nigeria’s annual rice requirements total about 5 million tonnes, out of which only about 2.2 million tonnes are produced locally.
He says that the shortfall of 2.79 million tonnes is bridged via rice importation, arguing that Nigeria is the highest importer of rice in Africa and the second highest in the world.  In spite of this development, Nigeria’s still has huge but untapped potential for rice production and processing.
“According to the NRDS, only 39 per cent of the 4.6 million hectares of land suitable for rice production is under cultivation and less than 50, 000 hectares of the estimated 3.14 million hectares of irrigable land are used for irrigation farming. “On the average, less than half of the total amount of rice paddies grown in the country is processed,’’ Gusau says. The permanent secretary believes that the strategy, when fully executed, will save for the country more than 500 million dollars (about N75 billion) being spent on rice importation annually. It will also impact positively on food security, job creation, balance of trade, poverty reduction and national productivity, Gusau adds. 
Mr Moses Adewuyi, the Director of Agro-Processing and Marketing in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, says that the NRDS is focusing on three areas on intervention to boost rice production and processing in Nigeria. These areas are post-harvest handling and processing; land, irrigation development and paddy production; as well as seed development and other production input.

Adewuyi says that under the processing and marketing component, efforts are directed at aiding the establishment of modern rice processing mills “that would deliver high-quality parboiled rice that can compete favourably in both domestic and export markets’’.  He says that plans are underway to conduct surveys to generate data for effective planning; while training scientists, extension workers and farmers on latest techniques and best practices in rice production.
In the second area, the strategy is to expand existing rice farms, increase farm mechanisation, while managing under-utilised irrigation projects in 26 states and 11 river basin authorities via a public/private partnership
Adewuyi says efforts will also be made to subsidise the costs of farm inputs, support research works to produce good seeds, while introducing hybrid and high-yield rice varieties and making pesticides and fertilizers more available and affordable.
Mr Olu Lipede, ministry’s Chief Press Secretary, says that emphasis will be placed on irrigated and rain-fed lowland rice development schemes, while efforts will be made to bring more land under cultivation.  He says that a National Coordinating Committee will be set up to guide the implementation of NRDS across the country.  Alhaji Abubakar Wodi, the President of Rice Farmers Association (RIFAN), argues that Nigeria is capable of feeding its population and serve as the rice hub for Africa but laments that the major problem is the lack of political-will. “The relevant government agencies have not been effective and efficient in the provision of basic agricultural inputs and services,’’ he says.
Wodi says that the agencies’ poor service delivery has induced a noticeable decrease in rice production, while rice importation and smuggling are on the increase. “What we need for the development of the sector is a public-private partnership to implement programmes, while the government provides the enabling environment for stability and growth,’’ he says.

Wodi, however, says that some problems exist in the post-harvest rice processing, stressing that if rice farmers are mobilised to increase their production without a solution to the problems, their efforts will turn out to be counter productive.
He stresses that in order to boost rice production and achieve the set targets, tangible efforts should be made to provide high-yielding rice varieties, fertilisers, funding and agro-chemicals for the farmers.
“It is unfortunate that in spite of the huge government’s expenditure on agriculture, farmers still obtain farm inputs from open markets at very expensive rates,’’ Wodi says.
“Labour constraints, if not looked into, will also cause a reduction in the quality and quantity of the produced rice,’’ he adds.
Malam Tanko Adamu, a rice farmer, urges the government to address problems relating to the implementation of its agricultural mechanisation policy and fertilisers’ supply.

He also implores the government to reactive all the dams being used for irrigation farming. Malam Idris Razak, a rice farmer, argues that over 90 per cent of rice production is being handled by poor, small scale farmers, while only 10 per cent of the rice is produced by cooperative commercial farmers.
He also notes that more than 92 per cent of rice-processing facilities use low capacity and obsolete mills, urging the government to address all the perceptible flaws in rice production and processing.
Mr Abdulganiyu Oloriaje, a lawyer, wants the government to initiate a policy that will compel farmers to survey and register their farmlands to enable them to use the property as collateral for loans.
He says that the average farm size ranges between two hectares and 5.4 hectares, stressing that the farms are too small for any meaningful rice cultivation.
A rice expert, Mr Akin Fagbemi, says efforts to boost rice production in the country should involve modern processing procedures, including harvesting, drying, threshing and packaging methods. He says that efforts should be made to jettison the widespread rice-processing methods of sun-drying and sorting parboiled rice on the bare ground so as rid the rice from stones and other impurities.
Fagbemi implores the government to ensure the proper utilisation of the N10 billion-Rice Fund, while removing tariff on imported rice processing equipment.
The government should also develop out-grower schemes to facilitate the production of enough paddy rice for rice mills, while building the capacity for farmers and rice processors, he says. Madam Kadijat Animashaun, a rice merchant, insists that virtually all the rice dealers prefer to sell imported rice because of its public acceptance.
“During periods of rice scarcity, people are ready to buy foreign rice at any price because the rice is free from stones, while its packaging is very attractive unlike the local rice,’’ she says.

Animashaun urges the government to improve rice production in the country, while sensitising the citizenry to the economic and nutritional benefits of eating local rice. “If there is no quality assurance on what we produce, government will just be encouraging smugglers because rice smuggling is lucrative and the smugglers’ activities will impact negatively on rice production in Nigeria,’’ she says.
For a country with over 150 million people who consume rice more than any other staple food, stakeholders say that concerted efforts must be made to increase rice production in Nigeria.
They want government to also make efforts to make local rice more acceptable to the citizens, while boosting the country’s self-sufficiency in rice production.
(NANFeatures)