From a sitting high court judge to a recently retired chief magistrate, accountants, university lecturers and businessmen, professionals across different fields in rice producing states are finding their way to the farms and, in particular, for rice farming.
Those who were hitherto ‘professional’ politicians are not left out, and now have something concrete to identify with.
Interactions during a recent trip to Kebbi State in the North West and Ebonyi State in the South East of the country revealed a rapidly growing momentum and enthusiasm to get involved in rice farming, as prices become more favourable for local farmers.
Spurred largely by the 70 percent tariff imposed on rice imports through the ports, and an outright ban through land borders, rice farmers say they are finally cashing in on an opportunity to make money through agriculture.
A snag: smuggling of foreign rice persists through the banned land borders, and the cost of rice is generally considered high in the markets. However, the volume of local rice being produced is steadily increasing even though government data is tricky to be relied on exclusively, and not even officially available.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Nigeria’s rice production reached 7 million tonnes (4.2 million tonnes, milled basis) in 2017, up 12 percent from 6.3 million tonnes (3.8 million tonnes, milled basis) in 2015. The growth, according to FAO, was encouraged by high local prices and inputs assistance programmes under the country’s self-sufficiency drive.
“Before the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, we would cultivate rice, but will not have buyers,” said Mohammed Suleiman Ambursa, a judge of the Kebbi State High Court, who was on his farm during a visit to Birnin Kebbi. “The price was so low before.”
Now that there are many rice mills, which also have to purchase paddy from local farmers, “the value of rice has drastically increased, and that is why it is more profitable than before”, said Ambursa, who was once secretary of the Judicial Service Commission and chief registrar of Kebbi State Judiciary.
Another member of the bench now finding the farm profitable, Abubakar Umar, was a chief magistrate in Kebbi until his retirement last year and has cultivated rice for 32 years. The difference now is that he is making more money from rice than ever before.
“When I was a magistrate, the salary was too meagre. But when I complemented my work with farming, I found no difficulty in meeting my obligations,” said Umar, repeating the statement gleefully. “I have made a lot of success, and millions out of rice farming.”
Now able to comfortably educate his nine children in tertiary institutions, secondary, and primary schools, he told BusinessDay, “I also purchased a new car and renovated the house. I am doing well.”
In Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Lawrence Adum, a lecturer of mathematics at the Ebonyi State University and a first class graduate of the institution, did his postgraduate studies at the University of Ohio, US, on a scholarship. Since his return to Nigeria in 2014, he has found more fulfilment in farming, and in particular, rice, harvesting up to 300 metric tonnes annually.
“My duplex in the village, the money I used to build it did not come from my paid employment, but from the farm,” Adum said.
According to him, he has been invited to return to the US, but he refused.
“I have my farms here, my children attend some of the best schools in the country, and I pay their school fees from this farm,” he said.
For him, rice farming has been more profitable than he could ever imagine, and there is no going back. All of this is courtesy of the booming rice market that has seen demand climb rapidly, ensuring farmers no longer have to struggle to have their produce sold.
Fidelis Ogodo, a former deputy speaker of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, says he is now “a full-time farmer”, even though he was involved in it before being elected as a legislator, where he served for eight years.
Ogodo, who is currently a commissioner with the State’s Independent Electoral Commission, says he is motivated to stay on the farm owing to the profitability of rice business. This year, he is increasing his land holding from six to 10 hectares to further cash in on the booming business.
“The larger my farms, the greater the profit I will get,” said Ogodo.
The emergence of more rice mills in Nigeria may be a contributing factor for his increasing rice cultivation, but according to Ogodo, even if the mills do not buy from him, he can go to any of the local mills to have his rice processed. “Demand is everywhere,” he said, emphasising he can even process his rice and sell directly to consumers, or perhaps traders.
“Rice business is very profitable right now, and even if you are in government, at the end of your tenure, you can resort to rice business to sustain your life,” he said.
CALEB OJEWALE
