In recent years, rice has
become a food security crop as well a cash crop engaging over 15 million people
in its value chain. This makes rice to be one of the major agricultural
commodities with a lot of attention in Nigeria. Currently, about 70 % of
Nigerians consume rice on daily basis thereby making it the most consumable
diet among Nigerians. Rice consumption
increases with the increase in the Nigerian population. and the population has
doubled from 88 millions in 1990s to over 170 millions currently. Nigerian population is estimated to increase to 300 million by 2035 from 150 million
in 2010, with annual growth
of 2.8%. Thus, rice consumption was reported to increase at a rate
of 5% per year between 1961 and 2006. The total demand for rice in 2012 was put at about 5
million Metric tons per year out of which about 3.2 million Metric tons were
produced locally (ATA Document). The area put under cultivation mostly by small-holder farmers for rice
production in 2010 was estimated at 2,012,740 ha. The 2010 National Rice Development Strategy estimated
national paddy production in 2007 at 3.4 million tons and made a projection of
13.27 million tons for 2018 production. The post harvest loss of rice after
production is estimated to be between 5 and 10 % as a result rice processing
using hand tools. From all indicators,
the national production has not kept
pace with the national consumption, thereby widening domestic rice deficit,
which has to be met through massive importation of processed rice. Nigeria is
reported to be among the largest rice importers in the world. The 2011 Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN) report showed that Nigeria is the world's
second largest importer of rice worth N356
billion. Nigeria is importing what it can produce in abundance, and
import dependency is hurting Nigerian farmers, displacing local production, and
creating rising unemployment. Import dependency
should not be acceptable neither can it be sustainable
fiscally, economically, or politically especially in this era of hope.
The expanding rice demand
in Nigeria is obviously due to many developmental factors such as population
growth, urbanization and changing lifestyle, consumer preference and diet
changes. Other reasons could be attributed to increase in food consumption away
from home by individuals and families, convenience and ease of storage and
cooking. Rice is consumed across all income groups in Nigeria. Some of the
identified constraints against increase in rice production are Low labor
productivity, low quality and high cost
of inputs and marketing constraints among others.
System of Rice
Intensification (SRI) is a verifiable technology adopted by many countries for
high increase of rice production per unit area. SRI is an
innovation that changes the conventional practices of rice production. It
involves producing rice with less seeds (8kg/ha), less water and inorganic
fertilizers on soil rich in organic matter and well aerated. It is a climate
smart, environmental friendly agro ecological methodology that gives higher
yield and rice quality while reducing the volume of water and cost of
production. It brings about stronger rice stalks, good roots formation and a
better panicle formation. SRI – adds
value for food security, water conservation and adaptation to climate change.
The average rice yields obtained from SRI ranged from 7.5 to 12 tons per
hectare as against the range of yields from 2 to 4 tons per hectare obtained
from a conventional practice
Surprisingly, SRI is a simple technology; it
involves raising of rice seedlings/nursery designed exactly like a vegetable
plot, 1m wide and 4 to 10m long. A measure of 8.5 kg of
rice seeds are used for the transplanting of 10,000 square meters (1
hectare) at the rate seedling per hole. The seeds are put into warm water for a
period of 12 hours to remove the floating grains because they are empty. Transplanting begins when the seedlings
produced two leaves around 10 to 15 days after sowing. the farm must have a
good land preparation making the
first 20 cm of the top soil well loosened. It is therefore crucial that at
least one week before the transplanting
of the seedlings, three important activities are carried out simultaneously.
They are ploughing, mudding, and
leveling, respectively. Use of Water and weeds are controlled under SRI while
use of organic fertilizer is highly encouraged. Although weeding should take
place every 10 days, it is necessary to consider the extent to which the plot
is covered with weeds.
In
West Africa, the promotion of rice production using SRI from 2007 to date is
done by renown financial and technical partners – USAID, FAO, WAAPP, and some
NGOs in countries such as Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea, Senegal,
S/Leone, Togo and Nigeria. The average rice yields obtained in these countries
ranged from 7.5t/ha to 12t/ha under SRI as against 2 - 5t/ha for conventional
practice.
In Nigeria, the promotion
of SRI is being championed by West African Agricultural Productivity Programme
(WAAPP - Nigeria) in collaboration with National
Cereals Research Institute (NCRI), the Green Sahel Agricultural and Rural
Development Initiative (GSARDI). WAAPP Nigeria financed the conduct of SRI, developed a multiyear
work plan, appointed focal institution and focal person and desk officers to
implement the activities of SRI. It funded the training of 70 farmers across
Nigeria to demonstrate SRI methodology, principles and practices in 2014. Similarly,
It funded the training of enumerators and Monitoring & Evaluation
specialists to monitor and collect data. It also sponsored the fabrication of
the 70 Rotary weeders, which were distributed to the 70 trained farmers
involved in the SRI demonstration project. The farmers and the facilitators
were selected from three states; Ebonyi, Niger and Jigawa States in 2014
cropping season.
The breakthrough is the WAAPP sponsored SRI trials
conducted during the 2014 farming season, which brought out impressive results.
Rice production was done under SRI and conventional system in each of the 70
rice plots. The average yield per hectare obtained under SRI was 6.08 tons
while the average yield per hectare obtained under conventional system was 2.7
tons. Similarly, the cost - revenue analysis was done, the result showed that
under SRI, the average profit made per hectare was N344,000 compared to the
N84,800 profit made from the conventional system.
SRI is adoptable in all
the Agro - Ecological zones of Nigeria with similar results; high yield per
unit area, low cost of production (low inorganic fertilizer, low quantity of
seeds) and low amount of water compared to the conventional system. The yield
per area will double, if not triple as demonstrated by the trials conducted in
the three states. Thus, Nigeria can boost rice production in a short period of
time using this verifiable technology. However,
governments at all levels (Federal, States and LGA) need to formulate a
deliberate policy that can promote the adoption of improved rice production and
processing technologies such as SRI. In this era of changes, Federal Government
has to lead in policy formulation and regulation targeted at increase rice production
and discouraging importation. Funds have to be made available for massive
capacity building of the rice producers and processors while setting time to
achieve the target. Fortunately, APC government at the centre has a robust
agricultural plan for self sufficiency in food production and
poverty eradication
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