The Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) Lagos State Chapter, has appealed to Federal and State Governments to pay more attention to rice cultivation in the country for sufficiency in the produce.
Mr Raphael Hunsa, RIFAN’s Chairman in Lagos state made the plea in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.
He said that government must do more to become self-sufficient in rice production.
Hunsa said that inadequate support from both state and Federal governments, lack of modern mechanised equipment and manpower was affecting rice production in the country.
He said there was urgent need for government to focus on rice farmers by providing all necessary support, thereby encouraging them to increase production.
According to him, other countries like Indonesia, Pakistan and India support their rice farmers with modern mechanised equipment and seedlings.
“There governments support them heavily and that is why the farmers in those countries produce rice in large quantities.
“What is stopping us in Nigeria from producing rice sufficiently? We have the land, we have the weather and human resources.
“What we are lacking is full commitment and investment in rice cultivation on the part of the government.
“Those countries that we are importing rice from, we also can do better than them if we get the right support.
“Nigeria can also export our local rice if government concentrates and gives us all the needed support,” he said.
Hunsa urged investment in modern mechanised equipment that would make a difference in the sector, adding that lack of modern equipment had discouraged many farmers from agriculture.
“We want government to support us by providing all the equipment required for rice cultivation.
“We need to combine harvester, tractor, planter, and other modern machineries that can move us forward and improve our rice production level.
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“Without all these modern machineries, we cannot achieve self-sufficiency in rice production. We cannot move forward if we remain in our local practice, we will just be producing for consumption.
Hunsa, however, said that due to the current situation, there might be insufficient rice during the Yuletide.
According to him, already, the Lagos state government has stated coming to offtake our paddy rice for the Eko rice mill.
“The little we are producing, government is ready to offtake it and from other farmers too.
“The rice in circulation won’t be enough but we will mange it though it will be expensive,” he said.
Hunsa said that insufficient cultivation of rice was responsible for hike in price of the commodity across the country.
He said there was currently shortage of rice farmers in the country due to lack of modern mechanised equipment and insecurity.
“Rice farmers are not much, we are just educating and encouraging people to come into the value chain so that we can have more paddy and milling all-year-round.
NAN
