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Nigeria: Rice Importation Reduces - Yar'Adua
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Daily Trust (Abuja)
1 October 2007
Posted to the web 1 October 2007
Misbahu Bashir
Abuja
Rice importation has been reduced from 2 million tonnes in 2003 to less than one million tonnes in 2005, under a presidential initiative aimed at reducing Nigeria's dependence on imported rice,President Umaru Yar'Adua announced weekend.
The president who was represented by his Vice, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, made the statement at the opening of the 26th ordinary session of Africa Rice Centre (WARDA) Council of Ministers in Abuja. He said the achievement was attributed to the Presidential Initiative on Rice Production, Processing and Export that was launched in 2003 to promote domestic rice production which led to the emergence of New Rice for Africa (NERICA) variety.
Yar'Adua noted that the Federal Government released N1bn, for the multiplication of NERICA seeds, which is an initiative of WARDA and other improved varieties and as a result, recorded considerable improvement.
" Thanks to the strong institutional support under the Presidential Initiative, Nigeria's rice output has increased from 3.4 million tonnes in 1999 to 4.3 million tonnes in 2006," he said.
He said rice remains one crop in Nigeria that can easily become self- sufficient but due to a number of reasons, rice production has remained low thus, deliberate policies and projects have therefore been formulated to change this situation and to link all the stakeholders in the rice value chain in order to strengthen Nigeria's rice production.
The president applauded the significant role of WARDA in the rice sector development and pledged the Federal Government's assistance to it.
In his opening remarks, the Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources and the chairman, Council of Ministers of WARDA, Dr. Sayyadi Abba Ruma, said Warda in partnership with national programs, including the National Cereals Research Institute (NCRI), generated successful technologies for lowland and irrigated ecologies using both conventional and cutting-edge technology.
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Ruma emphasised that in terms of tangible impact, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations has reported 6% increase in rice production in 2006 in Africa and has attributed this to the positive effects of NERICA adoption and good weather condition
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