The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is currently organizing stakeholders in Niger State for value chain rice production. This is coming at a time the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) has facilitated N65 billion loans to farmers across the country for same project.
Signals from quarters, suggest that the government is very serious to beat its year 2017 target of self-sufficiency in rice production as part of new moves to revive and boost the dwindling economy.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh and the Executive Director, NIRSAL Mr. Awoshafe Babatunde made these positions known at a roundtable meeting of Rice Supply Chain of the Agribusiness Supplier Development Programme (ASDP) jointly organised by the Ministry, UNDP and NIRSAL in Minna.
The Minister represented by the Director of Planning of the Ministry, Musa Alhassan said that the strategic implementation of government programmes would help reduce post-harvest losses.
According to him, “the Federal Government has banned the importation of rice and there is currently surplus across the country. This means, there is result and it shows that the farmers and all government’s policies are aiding agriculture produce.
He said “We are now rice sufficient in the country, by 2017; Nigeria will be self-sufficient in rice production. We are getting close as there is improvement on what we have been getting before. This will boost our economy”.
