The gains recorded in rice sufficiency in Nigeria are facing a possible reversal due to illegal rice importation, high operating cost and lack of institutional support for farmers in the country.
Investigation has revealed that many of the rice farms and mills are struggling to maintain production levels reached in the recent past, leading to shut down of operations and loss of jobs in the rice value chain.
For example, the integrated and commercial rice mills in Kwara State are currently operating skeletal services. The production of local rice in the state has dropped drastically due to a combination of forces.
Consequently, scores of rice farmers and workers at the rice mills have lost their sources of income and sustenance.
Reports gathered that the rice mills in Ilorin, the state capital, and Offa in the southern part of the state could not perform optimally because of the shortage in the production and supply of rice by the farmers.
The acting chairman of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) in Kwara State, Mal Muhammed Salihu confirmed the drastic drop in the production of rice in the state.
He blamed the situation on the stoppage of the federal government’s Anchor-Borrower Scheme, lack of farm inputs such as fertilisers and tractors, and flooding.
He gave the recent statistics of rice production in the state as follows: 2020 (60,000 metric tonnes), 2021(59,000 metric tonnes), and 2022 (25,000 metric tonnes).
“We are supposed to produce rice three times annually, but we now produce rice only once in a year and that’s during the wet season.
“There is also the problem of flooding that washes away our rice during the wet season.
There is also the problem of flooding that washes away our rice during the wet season.
“There is also the problem of lack of farm inputs like fertilisers and tractors. Thousands of farmers are looking for fertilisers which they have not got. The anchor- borrower scheme has also stopped since 2021. All these factors are responsible for the low production of rice in the state,” RIFAN chairman stated.
Salihu appealed to the state government to help them with the supply of fertilisers and other inputs needed to improve rice production in the state.
