Kano to harvest 1.2 million tons of rice this year- Ganduje

Kano state is expected to produce an estimated 1. 2 million tons of rice this year, the state Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has said. Ganduje in a statement signed by his Director General on Media and Communication, Alhaji Salihu Tanko Yakasai, said the quantity was equivalent to one sixth of the country’s rice demand. […]

Kano state is expected to produce an estimated 1. 2 million tons of rice this year, the state Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has said.

Ganduje in a statement signed by his Director General on Media and Communication, Alhaji Salihu Tanko Yakasai, said the quantity was equivalent to one sixth of the country’s rice demand.

The governor said this was part of the state’s effort to enhance food sufficiency in the country, saying researchers had estimated that Nigerians eat around 6 million tons rice annually, half of which is being imported.

Dr. Ganduje, who spoke during the launch of this year’s rice harvest programme at Samawa and Kadawa in Garun Mallam local government, added that “with the administrations’ political will and commitment of the farmers, it is envisioned that the state would produce 2 million tons of rice next year”.

“Kano has the potential to feed itself and contribute significantly to meeting the nation’s rice requirement. That is why our farmers must take advantage of the ban on importation of rice to boost production locally”, the governor stated.

The ban, he maintained, has motivated and opened a new opportunities for local farmers to diversify from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture, emphasizing that the diversification is yielding positive result across the country as many Nigerians have now abandoned imported rice for the local varieties.