FG to revitalize rice farms in rice producing regions
The Minister stated that rice production
is expected to increase as the government continues to revitalize rice farmers.
September
29, 2020
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The
Federal Government has stated that Rice Farms in Anambra State and other
regions will be revitalized to boost rice production, create jobs and also
improve the living standard of the people in the State and the region.
This was disclosed by the
Minister of State, Agriculture and Rural Development, Hon. Mustapha
Baba Shehuri, during the assessment of Federal Government Rice Farms/Mills in
Omor and Umerum in Anambra State.
Given
the importance of rice as a staple in Nigeria, the Minister stated that the
Federal Government is taking steps to achieve self-sufficiency in rice
production, and this is evident in the policies of the government in achieving
food and nutrition security, import substitution and promotion of inclusive
economic growth across all sectors of the economy.
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Government Policy
Interventions in Agriculture and Rural Development has helped to develop the
rice sector, and these interventions include the provision of farm inputs such
as agrochemicals, organic fertilizers, knapsack sprayers, planting &
harvesting equipment such as reapers, mini combine harvesters, threshers at a
subsidized rate in order to increase productivity.
The Minister added
that these policies have not only increased the quantity of rice produced annually
but interventions through the provision of modern rice milling machines to
small/medium scale processors, has also helped to improve the quality of
Nigeria milled rice to international standard.
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However, Nigeria’s
rice consumption still holds higher than production, but government
interventions through myriads of policies have increased rice production from
4.8 million metric tons of milled rice in 2015 to over 6 million metric tons by
2019 with a huge reduction in the nation’s deficit. Hon. Mustapha Baba Shehuri
explained that production is expected to increase as the government continues
to revitalize rice farmers.
Shehuri said that
”the Ministry has established 23 Paddy Aggregation Centers nationwide to
aggregate and store paddy. The centres were given to members of the Paddy
Dealers Association of Nigeria (PRIDAN) under the public-private partnership
arrangement”.
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In like manners,
there will be the dissemination of modern rice production and processing
technologies, through capacity building of farmers and processors directly and
also in conjunction with the international donor agencies such as Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO), German International Cooperation (GIZ), International Fund for
Agricultural Development (IFAD), Competitive Africa Rice Initiative (CARI),
AfricaRice.
He
reiterated that the Ministry is currently responding to the challenges of food
availability posed by the COVID-19 pandemic by supporting smallholder farmers
nationwide with various inputs including certified seeds of improved varieties
of food crops such as rice, maize, sorghum, wheat, orange-flesh sweet potato,
groundnut cowpea, soybean, yam, as well as cash crops like cashew, cocoa,
sesame, oil palm, gum Arabic. Others include herbicides, pesticides and
agricultural machinery such as rice reapers, transplanters, power tillers
motorized sprayers and processing equipment.
These
interventions are expected to alleviate the effect of the pandemic on farmers
and ensure that they keep producing food for the country.
