‘We established rice investment consortium to boost production’

What is Niger State Rice Investment Consortium all about?Niger State government took the decision to harness its enormous potentials as a leading rice producer in Nigeria. Virtually all the rice millers in Nigeria come to the state to buy rice paddy. But this is largely based on the high level of production among the peasant […]

What is Niger State Rice Investment Consortium all about?
Niger State government took the decision to harness its enormous potentials as a leading rice producer in Nigeria. Virtually all the rice millers in Nigeria come to the state to buy rice paddy. But this is largely based on the high level of production among the peasant farmers in the rice belt of state along Bida emirate, Dhoko, Ndogiji and places around the River Niger and River Katuka. Rice production in the state is courtesy of the peasant farmers effort whose output stood at the average of 500, 000 metric tons per annum.
So with the federal government policies and expected ban on rice importation, people massively went into rice production.  The federal government is supportive of this initiative including dry season farming and others. So the Niger State government now bought some tractors and there is a policy in place for procuring 100 tractors every year so for the 2013 cropping season the state government bought additional 100 tractors which have been distributed to all of the 25 local government areas of the state.
However, the management for these tractors become a problem therefore in order to effectively manage them, the idea of Niger State Rice Investment Consortium was conceptualised.
Considering the fact that majority of the rice farmers in the state are peasant farmers, don’t you think collaboration between the farmers and the consortium will be very difficult?
The consortium is  where a group of investors will come under one umbrella with a lead consultant that will be mobilising the private producers within the rice production locality to come and participate in the tractor hiring scheme. This way they will be able to in turn assist others in their own farm holdings or smallholder farmers around the catchment areas so that they can expand the scope of their production.
This was launched in 2013 and it became a watershed in the sense that the 25 tractors that were initially provided for the consortium by the state government, which was out of a total of 100 tractors, the remaining 75 were distributed to the 25 LGAs and Niger State Agriculture and Mechanisation Development Authority  (NAMDA).
How will you rate the success of the consortium in term of offering tractor hiring service to rice farmers in the state?
You will discover that in the final analysis of the consortium, the management of the tractor hiring scheme impacts more than the one distributed to the local government areas. The consortium and other individuals managed the scheme in five other centres and this enables farmers to access the service of the tractor not only with ease but at any time they need them because the companies ensure that they are in serviceable form always. The centres managing the tractors hire them from the state through the consortium and the consortium pays the government annually. The agreement between the state government and the consortium is for four years – from 2014 to 2018 – and at the end of the project the tractors will become theirs. The records indicate that the scheme is far better than when it was in the hands of the LGAs.  
The feedback government is getting also shows that there are very encouraging improvements in terms of production as more farmers now take advantage of the scheme to cultivate more farmland.
One of the farmers around Dhoko area told this reporter that pieces of land that they were unable to cultivate for over 20 years are now being cultivated with the setting up of the scheme. That is very commendable. We are therefore calling on prospective investors to partner with the government in order to move the sector forward.
Does the consortium provide other services apart from addressing the problem of tractor hiring?
The consortium also collaborates with donor agencies in the provision of agricultural financial aid and technology information to paddy rice farmers so as to increase productivity and income for rice farmers. It is the aim of the consortium to improve the livelihood of rice farmers with a view to increase domestic rice supply to the ever increasing market.
The consortium was created to improve tractor hiring services alongside provision of  other agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilizer which is now provided via the e-wallet.
At the end of the programme what is the benefit for those that participated in the management of the tractors under the consortium?
You know after paying the value of each of the tractors, it automatically becomes theirs but government is working hard to ensure that all payments are effected to avoid the errors of the past where the tractor services will not reaching the targeted farmers  and due poor culture of maintenance within a short period they would become unserviceable.