The government of Nigeria is planning to adopt high-yielding hybrid rice varieties to boost production, in line with their target of becoming self-sufficient in Rice production by 2015.
Nigeria’s Agriculture Minister, who signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the African Agriculture Technology Foundation (AATF) on agriculture technology cooperation told local sources that the AATF would aid the Nigerian government to promote hybrid rice production in the country, to “create sustainable hybrid rice agro-businesses to support rice farming in East, West and Southern Africa by determining precise relationships between yield, environment and genetics.”
He noted that the ATA, which entered into its third year of implementation of Growth Enhancement Support (GES), also highlights the need for using appropriate technology to increase rice production and improve the lives of small scale farmers. The GES, which is built upon an electronic wallet technology, has supported the Agriculture Ministry to provide subsidized farm inputs to nearly ten million farmers, including rice, and keep track of their yields and productivity, adds the minister.
The government of Nigeria is planning to ban rice imports by 2015, a lofty goal.
Nigeria currently imports nearly 3 million tons of milled rice annually, nearly all of it smuggled, since local production of about 2.7 million tons is insufficient to fulfill the country’s consumption needs of about 6 million tons, according to the USDA.
– Reference: http://oryza.com/news/rice-news/nigeria
