An indicator emanating from the rice production communities in the Kano, one of the northern Nigeria agriculture hubs show that the state is set to boost its rice production this year farming season, despite massive flood experience in most of the communities, in the recent time.
Checks conducted by BusinessDay in many of the rice farming communities in Kura, Bebeji, Tudun-Wada, and Dambatta Local Government Areas of the state revealed that many of the rice farmers whose farmlands were flooded in the year, had been able to re-plant and they are expecting a good yield.
Kano state has been a major rice contributor to the initiatives launched by the Federal Government geared at encouraging Nigerian farmers to scale up rice production in the country, in order to make the country self-sufficient in the production of the commodity, which is one of the staple foods among Nigerians.
Latest data of the Nigerian Bureau of Statistic indicates that Nigeria consumes over five million metric tons of rice annually, with a significant portion of the commodity coming from import with an attendant cause in foreign exchange, a situation that the rice production initiative of the Government is targeted to address.
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Rice demand has been growing faster than supply, a trend which experts said is driven by factors including population growth and urbanization being experienced in the country
Commenting on the situation of rice cu ltivation in the Bebeji in the year, Aliyu Mashefara, who is one of the rice farmers in the Local Government disclosed that most farmers are anticipating a bumper harvest because of the steady recovery they after replanting, immediately after the flood experienced in the early part of the year.
Aliyu explained that his optimism on the production this year, is also based on the new variety of rice planted, adding that after the flood that ravaged the communities, they were provided with a new variety of rice seed that is capable of giving 1.3 to 1.7 higher yield than the usual ones.
“From what is on the ground I can tell you without any fear that we are going to get a bumper harvest at the end of the farming season. Initially, we are afraid that we not going to get any when we had the flood, but praise be to Allah that fear did not manifest.
“The other reason why we are optimistic is the support we got from the Government in form of improved seeds were given to us after the flood. We are told that the variety of rice we planted is capable of giving us 1.3 to 1.7 higher yield than the one we planted before”, he stated.
Experts are also of the view that the improved production of rice paddy triggered by the Government support to the sector has resulted in the opening up of several new rice millers, as well as employment for many farmhands, and engaged on the farms and rice mills.
