Farmpowerng empowering rural farmers to boost rice production
To the average Nigerian, rice is an everyday meal; rice is the one crop that must always be available if not, many will go hungry. Rice is the most important staple food in the world because both the wealthy and the poor remain constant consumers making it the only food that cut across all the socio-classes in the world. Statistically, Nigeria is the largest producer of rice in West Africa. The main rice producing states in Nigeria is; Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kano, Niger, Benue, Taraba and Borno, others states includes Enugu and Cross River.
Although, there have been recent changes concerning rice commodity as the Nigerian government closed boarder to foreign importation and put some strategies in place to boost local production of the commodity; yields have remained at 2 tonne per hectare. There are still several unattended issues that are hindering its production i.e: Farmers have limited access to credit and extension services. Only about 30,000 tractors are available for all 14 million farming families or groups. Processing capacity is a major bottleneck to increasing the national rice supply. In addition, as population increases, along with rural to urban migration, ensuring food security in key staples becomes critical. However, food security cannot be achieved by mere words, actions and a working system have to be put in place.
Given its importance, its production remains high priority. Several farmers are willing and ready to venture into rice production, however, necessary materials as well as financial services are not available to them. Farmpower Nigeria is ready to take up this challenge, we are joining hands with several rural farmers in the north (Niger and Nasarawa State to be precise) by providing them with mechanized tools and equipment, high quality seeds, as well as access to finance to ensure that the continuous production and supply of rice keeps growing so as to meet the daily demand. We are also working on starting a rice processing program whereby farmers bring their rice paddy and we process and bag for sale
Global agricultural company Olam says the cultivation and processing of rice in Nigeria has the potential to be a lucrative industry. Nigerians consume around 5.5 million tonnes of rice annually, of which about 3.6 million tonnes is produced locally, mostly by subsistence farmers.
The rice business provides a lot of realistic promises to investors or businessmen because its demand still remains constant. Our rice farm investment cycle will be opening soon and we are encouraging everyone to be a big part of it; so that from your comfort you can make an impact and indirectly ensure rice is always available for everyone to eat.