Follow Us on Google
Ngozi Nwoke
Without a doubt, rice is one of the most popular foods in Nigeria, with the people consuming as much as seven million tonnes each year.
Virtually every part of the country is blessed with arable land suitable for the cultivation of rice. Indeed, from time immemorial, places like Abakaliki in Ebonyi State, several communities in Kebbi State, Ofada in Ogun State, Igbemo-Ekiti in Ekiti State and many others across the length and breadth of the country have been known as the home of rice.
In spite of these, however, the country, for many years, relied more on rice imported from other parts of the world. Many derided rice planted in the country as too local. Billions of dollars was expended on the importation of food, most of which could be cultivated in the country. In muffled tones, impoverished farmers bemoaned their fate.
But that culture began to change recently. To support local farmers, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration embarked on some policies that have been encouraging local cultivation, especially rice. Government also curbed imports of some food items, including rice. All that, coupled with the sudden closure of land borders in the country as well as the continued confiscation of bags of suspected foreign rice by operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service, has encouraged local farmers, rice millers and traders. And local rice has suddenly become the most popular commodity in the country.
Stakeholders said the Federal Government has been boosting agriculture by supporting local farmers in many ways. Some of the support offered to farmers includes grants by the government, loans offered to farmers at cheap interest rates, grants and technology given by non-profits and funding from foreign agencies, such as the World Bank.
One of the major policies was the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers Programme, which was launched by President Buhari on November 17, 2015. The programme is intended to create a linkage between anchor companies involved in the processing and small holder farmers of the required key agricultural commodities.
The CBN set up a $130m initiative offering farmers who have at least one hectare of land loans at a nine per cent interest rate, which is below the benchmark interest rate of 14 per cent. The apex bank has announced that about a million farmers have benefitted from the programme.
Besides the CBN, the World Bank is also funding a number of schemes to encourage farming and help boost agriculture and food security in the country. There are centres now offering equipment and machines at greatly subsidised hire prices to farmers.
Most of the interventions seem to have favoured rice farmers. All of a sudden, there is a sudden boom in that sector. Rice grown and milled in Nigeria is now neatly packaged and consumed all over the country. And farmers, traders and even consumers are happy.
Recently, the United States Department of Agriculture, World Markets and Trade asserted that the reforms in Nigeria’s agriculture sector have begun to yield the desired fruits, noting that Nigeria now produces 3.7 million tonnes of rice annually. A rice farmer in one of the Northern states, Aminu Ndakogi, explained that one of the international development partners in the country, the non-profit organisation, International Forum for Agricultural Development (IFAD), has also been helping farmers in the area.
“I started farming with only one hectare, and the average yield was two to three tonnes. When I integrated with IFAD, I was able to increase my cultivation to three hectares with an average of eight tonnes. Now, I’m planning to increase my cultivation to five hectares,” he told the BBC.
There is also an ongoing partnership between the German government and the Bill and Mellinda Gates Foundation to help boost rice farming in the country.
With support from the foundation, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in Germany, it was gathered, provided two million Euros for implementation of the rice farming project tagged CARI-2. The project aims to help smallholder farmers to increase their income and provide their families and the country with high quality rice, according to the programme director, Jean-Bernard Lalannehe.
Lalannehe said the programme commenced in June 2018, and would last till June 2021. He informed that the project would be focused on business linkages in the rice sector to ensure that the producers were well connected with the markets, processors, rice millers, aggravators and input dealers.
Besides the various interventions that encourage local cultivation of rice, stakeholders have partly attributed the current popularity of local rice among consumers to the closure of land borders by the government.
In August, the Federal Government suddenly closed the country’s land borders, and they have remained closed till date. Many people were caught unawares by the unexpected move. But according to many rice farmers and traders, it has remained one of the best actions of the current administration.
In fact, the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) has urged the Federal Government to ensure that the borders remain closed for now. The body said the policy was helping to boost the nation’s economy.
Idris Abini, chairman of the association in Niger State, said the closure has increased rice production in the state due to increased demand by marketers and consumers.
“We have started the journey to produce more rice due to the closure of our borders because efforts will be made by both government and farmers to produce enough food.
“The border closure is a right step in the right direction because it is already increasing wealth among farmers as consumers are beginning to patronise our local rice. Those criticising the closure of the borders are not true Nigerians because it is one of the best decisions of this administration,” he said.
Abini expressed gratitude to the Federal Government for providing the enabling environment for agriculture to thrive by supporting farmers with inputs and implements.
“The Federal Government has demonstrated this through the Central Bank of Nigeria Anchor Borrowers Scheme by allowing farmers to access more loans even when previous ones have not been fully repaid,” he said.
Vice president of RIFAN in the South West, Mr. Victor Korede, was delighted that rice farming has been witnessing a boom across the country. He praised the Federal Government for closing the nation’s land borders and for introducing initiatives that encourage local farmers.
“I’m a farmer and a Nigerian and I know the good it will do for the country. It will ginger us because farmers will know they have a market and in that sector there will be progress owing to increased production. We know production now is slow but we know we have to rise to the occasion and develop our market. When you’re producing and there’s a market, you keep improving and expanding.”
To the chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Kano State chapter, Alhaji Faruk Rabi’u, the Federal Government has boosted the confidence of farmers. He noted that the Federal Government had shown its readiness to boost agricultural production by insisting on the patronage of the home products.
“With this development, farmers will have more confidence that their products will be patronised. Therefore they can invest more on their farms because they know that after harvesting, their farm products will be sold. If we continue to import foreign rice, despite the fact that the locally produced one is the best for our health, people will continue to buy it,” he said.
The rejuvenation of the local rice industry has also increased the activities of businessmen, as more rice mills have sprung up in many parts of the country.
Alhaji Aminu Ahmed, managing director of Tiamin Rice Milling Plant in Kano, said the new rice mills are giving jobs to hundreds of hitherto unemployed individuals. His own mill, he noted, now employs over 300 permanent staff and 600 casual workers.
Another rice farmer, Alhaji Muhammadu Jega, said after achieving self-sufficiency in rice production, Nigerian farmers would be targeting exporting rice to other countries.
A rice consultant and general manager, project, Elephant Group, Dr. Oluwarotimi Fashola, told Daily Sun that the border closure was a great decision by the Federal Government, especially since the Anchor Borrowers Programme of the CBN was offering tremendous support to Nigerian farmers. He urged even tighter regulations at the borders to enhance the growth of Nigeria’s local rice industry.
In his words, for the demand-supply gap created by the ban on smuggled foreign rice to be bridged, and to bring down the cost of locally produced rice, increased investment and consistency on the part of farmers and patience on the part of consumers were needed.
Mr. Francis Toromade, the director-general of Premier Agribusiness Academy, said the closure of Nigeria’s land borders was a good development.
“If closing the borders will make our local production grow, it is better for us. When the borders are porous, some individuals are enriched and not the economy. Why must we continue to buy foreign rice when rice is produced in Kebbi, Ebonyi and other states?” he queried.
Traders in local rice are also in a happy mood in this festive season. Many of them said they had been making good money, noting that the ban placed on importation of foreign rice had boosted their business tremendously.
“Banning foreign rice and encouraging local rice farmers has been a blessing. Even if that is the only good thing by this Buhari administration, I fully support it. Those of us doing this business are happy. Suddenly, everyone is patronising local rice and we are making money. Business has been quite good,” Ndubuisi Okeke, who has a small rice distributing business in Lagos, noted.
Many consumers have also attested to the quality of the species of rice planted in Nigeria. Experts have insisted that the brown rice produced in Nigeria is far better and healthier than foreign rice. The local rice, they noted, has a carbohydrate content that is of high quality, and its rich fibre content aids in the body’s digestion processes. It also has fewer calories than the imported white rice, its protein is gluten-free, it protects the heart, reduces the risk of diabetes, and is good for the bones and heart. The local rice, experts insist, also fights cancer, helps in weight loss, reduces sleep disorder, has anti-aging properties and is rich in the mineral folate, a form of folic acid essential for pregnant women and women trying to conceive, among other health benefits.
