Statistics: Rice Production in Nigeria.
In spite of the oil, agriculture remains the base of Nigeria’s economy, providing the main source of livelihood for most Nigerians. The sector faces many challenges, notably an outdated land tenure system that constrains access to land (1.8 ha/farming household), a very low level of irrigation development (less than 1 percent of cropped land under irrigation), limited adoption of research findings and technologies, high cost of farm inputs, poor access to credit, inefficient fertilizer procurement and distribution, inadequate storage facilities and poor access to markets have all combined to keep agricultural productivity low (average of 1.2 metric tons of cereals/ha) with high post harvest losses and waste.
Even though agriculture still remains the largest sector of the Nigerian economy and employs two-thirds of the entire labour force, the production hurdles have significantly stifled the performance of the sector. Over the past 20 years, value-added per capita in agriculture has risen by less than 1 percent annually. It is estimated that Nigeria has lost at least USD 10 billion in annual export opportunity from groundnut, palm oil, cocoa and cotton alone due to continuous decline in the production of those commodities. Food (crop) production increases have not kept pace with population growth, resulting in rising food imports and declining levels of national food self-sufficiency. The main factors undermining production include reliance on rainfed agriculture, smallholder land holding, and low productivity due to poor planting material, low fertilizer application, and a weak agricultural extension system amongst others.
The big questions stares us in the face; Nigeria is the continent’s leading consumer of rice, one of the largest producers of rice in Africa and simultaneously one of the largest rice importers in the world. As well as an important food security crop, it is an essential cash crop for it is mainly small-scale producers who commonly sell 80 percent of total production and consume only 20 per cent. Rice generates more income for Nigerian farmers than any other cash crop in the country.
Rice is such a staple in Nigeria, we’ve come to make finance and savings quotes like; There is rice at home, and even winning the jollof wars. All this is indicative of the fact that Nigeria consumes almost 7 million tonnes of it a year.
Rice — the number one food staple in Nigeria.
Rice is one of the most consumed staples in Nigeria, with a consumption per capita of 32kg. In the past decade, consumption has increased 4.7%, almost four times the global consumption growth, and reached 6.4 million tonnes in 2017 — accounting for c.20% of Africa’s consumption. As at 2011, rice accounted for 10% of household food spending, and 6.6% of total household spending*. Given the importance of rice as a staple food in Nigeria, boosting its production has been accorded high priority by the government in the past 7 years. Significant progress has been recorded; rice production in Nigeria reached a peak of 3.7 million tonnes in 2017.
Despite this improvement, comparatively, Nigeria’s rice statistics suggest there is an enormous potential to raise productivity and increase production. Yields have remained at 2 tonne per hectare, which is about half of the average achieved in Asia. In addition, as population increases, along with rural to urban migration, ensuring food security in key staples becomes critical. However, food security cannot be achieved by a system that depends almost entirely on human muscle power and other manual methods.
Globally, rice production has grown at an annual average of 1.0% over the past decade, reaching 486.7 million tonnes in 2017. Most of this growth has come from Asia, accounting for 89% of global output. China and India are the largest producers, each with a share of 29.6% and 22.6% of global production respectively. In the rest of the world (ex-Asia),rice production has risen steadily over the past decades, accounting for 15% of total production by 2017, a marginal increase from 12% in the last two decades.
Global rice consumption remains strong, driven by both population and economic growth in Asia and Africa. Over the past two decades, rice demand increased at an annual average of 1.2% to reach 481.6 4 million tonnes in 2017.
That’s a lot of rice, and in order to keep up with demand, the country has imported huge amounts of the grain. But it’s not alone — according to the African Development Bank, about $35bn is spent on food imports annually across the continent. This is despite the fact that Africa is home to two-thirds of the world’s most arable uncultivated land. To boost food security, Nigeria has curbed imports and is now trying to encourage more rice production at home. But there’s still a lot more work that needs to be done.
Read: A growing problem: Nigerian rice farmers fall short after borders close.
With the border closure, reduction in the importation and increase in the market price of Rice, you can’t help but ask, how does this affect rice production in Nigeria?
Here’s what you should know about the current state of rice production in Nigeria. Nigeria is the largest producer of Rice(paddy) in Africa with an average production volume of 8 million metric tonnes. As of 2019, Nigeria ranked as the 14th largest producer of rice in the world with China being the top producing country.
As of 2019, Africa had a total production volume of 14.6M, Nigeria produced about 55% and Egypt produced about 30% of the production volume.
Nigeria exports Rice(paddy) to different countries in Africa like Ghana and Botswana. Also, export destinations in Europe include Russia, France, Ireland, Hungary.
As of December 2019, a kg of rice(paddy) sold for about NGN120 in the local market whereas, in the global market, it sold for as high as NGN281.
Rice is used for different purposes but mainly eaten as a staple food in Nigeria and other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. The back of the rice called rice husk which is removed during the processing of rice can be used in the livestock industry to produce feed.
What do we think are the next steps in scaling rice production in Nigeria and Africa at large? Well, we thought to give this a root cause problem solving approach and give some insights into the constraints.
Production constraints
In the irrigated rice schemes, production constraints include low nitrogen-use efficiency and iron toxicity, disease and pest pressure (especially birds), and low mechanization. Socioeconomic constraints include a lack of involvement of farmers in the planning and implementation of irrigation schemes, lack of access to inputs (including credit), and a loss of labor and an aging farming population because of migration to cities. Rice yield in these schemes is 3.0–3.5 t/ha compared with the potential of 7–9 t/ha.
In the rainfed lowland environment, rice cultivation is characterized by a low yield range of 1.5–3.0 t/ha vis-à-vis a potential of 3.0–6.0 t/ha, caused by suboptimal water management, inadequate weed management, low adoption of modern varieties, low mechanization, pest and disease pressure, and uncertain land tenure.
In the upland environment, rice cultivation is challenged by drought, low adoption of improved varieties, soil acidity and general soil infertility, poor weed control, limited capital investments and labor shortages, and low mechanization. Yields range from 1.0 to 1.7 t/ha compared with a potential of 2.0–4.0 t/ha.
Farmers and rice value chain actors have difficulty in accessing agro-inputs, particularly quality seed, fertilizer, and credit. Infrastructure development is lagging behind with respect to irrigation facilities, feeder/rural roads, and rice storage and processing capacity. In the past, changes in government policies in the areas of concessions and tariffs have discouraged investors. In general, the rice value chain is characterized by yields that are far below what would be possible with improved management, improved market information and structure, and sufficient and updated rice-processing capacity.
Production opportunities
Imported rice volumes dominate rice trading in Nigeria because of the poor quality of locally produced rice. A huge potential market for locally produced rice exists in urban centers if quality, standards, and grading are addressed. The government plans to put more land under irrigation for rice production and rehabilitate dilapidated irrigation schemes under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda. For upland rice systems, NERICA varieties will be promoted in the north-central and southwest regions of the country. Yield gaps can be reduced substantially across environments through the adoption of good agricultural practices and principles (integrated rice management), and the use of robust and high-yielding varieties.
Policies and conditions that offer opportunities for developing the rice sector in the country include zero tariffs on agricultural machinery and equipment, a large domestic market for rice products and by-products, government subsidies on fertilizer, seed, and tractors and implements, and guaranteed minimum price support for farmers. The credit system has also received a boost from the government’s establishment of rice-processing credit schemes at 4% interest rate and a 15 years’ payback period to increase national rice-processing capacity.
Sources: FAO’s FAOSTAT database online and AQUASTAT database online, as of September 2012.
Support for farmers
Our work with tens of thousands of rice farmers cut across the problems of access; to finance, data driven advisory and premium markets for produce. How have we made this possible and cut through these barriers for increased production? By providing improved seeds, meticulously supporting the farmers with modern agro practices that increases yield and also connecting them with markets that guarantee increased yield for their operations.
The mechanisation gap
PWC says that Nigeria’s mechanisation has remained low at 0.3 hp/ha, relative to 2.6hp/ha in India and 8 hp/ha in China. The number of agricultural tractors is estimated around 22,000, relative to 1 million and 2.5 million in China and India respectively. Low income, limited access to affordable financing and the lack of technical skills have limited the adoption of mechanisation across the rice value chain.
We estimate that increasing the mechanisation rate in Nigeria from 0.3hp/ha to 0.8hp/ha in the next 5 years, can double rice production to 7.2 million tonnes. To achieve this, we estimate that Nigeria will need to at least triple its current stock of machinery over the same period. In addition to raising production, adequately increasing mechanisation has the capacity to raise yields, increase labour productivity, reduce post-harvest losses, increase income generated by farmers and deepen import substitution.
The opportunity
Nigeria’s mechanisation gap provides numerous opportunities for investment across the agricultural value chain. To attract the required investment, the government needs to create an enabling environment that ensures mechanisation is profitable. In terms of priorities, the government should concentrate on: addressing challenges around land tenure and ownership, providing rural infrastructure and extension services, and ensuring incentives are transparent and accessible to all investors.
A prosperous Africa begins with you, let’s do more for our Farmers. Visit thriveagric.com to get started. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and subscribe to our YouTube Channel to see our work improving the lives of local farmers in Nigeria and how we are building to ensure food security in Africa, one farmer at a time.
