Even as nation spends billions of naira on imports
Figures given by the new minister of agriculture Ayodeji Akinwunmi reveal that about N356 billion is being spent on rice importation annually. In spite of this, rice producers in the country are still unable to meet local demand, meaning that at least an average of N1 billion worth of rice is demanded daily.
According to Ibrahim Iroko, the president of the Badagry Rice Farmers Association in Itoga, Badagry after harvesting and processing the rice, everything produced is bought off immediately by bulk buyers. Iroko who spoke on behalf of all other farmers at the rice farm explains the business.
He says, “We plant different varieties of rice such as Ofada, Nerica 8 and Faro 44. The rice we produce is more nutritious than the imported ones where most of the nutrients have been washed off during processing. Once we harvest and process, people buy off immediately. The demand is high even for local rice but the quantity we are able to produce is not much. The Lagos State government has been very helpful but we appeal to the federal government to offer help to rice farmers so we can plant larger quantities by making available tractors, harvesters, boom sprayers which is needed to spray the farm and kill weeds at the early stage. With mechanisation, farming would become more attractive to youths as opposed to this growing trend of ‘okada’ business.
Rice farming without mechanisation is tedious and not so profitable. For instance, when rice is planted today, the following day, the boom sprayer has to be used to spray herbicides to prevent weeds. If done, weeds would not come up until about two months later by which time the rice would have fully grown.
We plant upland and lowland rice here in Itoga. We have about 51 varieties of rice, but we choose Nerica 8 which matures in 72 days because the stalk is not so strong to support the weight of birds perching on it and sucking the milk.
Challenges
We normally start planting in March, but due to climate change we would need irrigation so that when the rain does not come when it is supposed to, we would not lose our crops. We are so thankful to the Lagos state government that has started constructing irrigation facilities, so that rain or no rain, we can plant rice at least twice a year. We have been planting only once a year. Another major challenge is working capital. With the exception of some, many of the farmers have just one or two hectares under cultivation. But one farmer can more easily manage five to 15 hectares. In one hectare, if there is no delay in rain and all goes well, about have 2. 5 tonnes of rice can be got from one hectare, that is about 100 or 50 bags. We use 25 or 50 kilo bags. We sell 25 kilo at N3, 500 and 50 kilo for N7, 000. So about N350, 000 can be realised as gross profit on one hectare but so many factors can reduce the profit on that.
Before the rice is harvested, the farm has to be weeded so as not to harvest weeds with it. About 10 people are needed to weed one hectare and they get N1, 500 per day. It takes about five days to weed one hectare. That is about N75,000 on weeding per hectare alone and there are many other expenses that are incurred. So farmers need working capital to cover such expenses. So we keep imploring the government to provide access to finance so as to have mass production of food.
Intervention
The Lagos state government under Fashola administration bought a tractor and we also got one through Commercial Agriculture Development Project (CADP). We are expected to pay some amount of money before it becomes the property of the cooperative.
Membership
We were over 100 members but because of the many challenges many people have withdrawn. We are now about 80. The cooperative is opened to all, there is still land for anyone interested in rice farming. Once the person approaches us, we would allocate land to the person. When there are benefits to be enjoyed from the government, the person would also be a partaker. There are dues to be paid because we are an association and the land we used is rented. The entrance fee is not much. When the person plants and sells, he would make profit and some of the payments can be made then. In spite of the challenges, it is a profitable business and a farmer’s family has assurance of feeding well.
