The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, has inaugurated the National Executive Committee of National Rice Producers, Processors, Millers and Marketers Association of Nigeria (NARPPMMAN).
Inaugurating the committee on Friday in Abuja, the Permanente Secretary of the ministry, Dr Evelyn Ngige, said that the agric-commodity sector remains a veritable means of diversifying the economy from oil.
Represented by Alhaji Suleiman Audu, the Director, Commodities and Export Department in the ministry, Ngige said that diversification through the agric commodity sector would create more jobs, improve livelihoods and reduce poverty.
“Rice is the most important crop in Nigeria in terms of consumption, it is also the country’s staple meal for events and celebration.
“Therefore, there is the need for us to attain more than self-sufficiency in its production.
“So, the surplus could be exported to other African countries, thereby, exploiting the opportunities abound in the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA),’’ Ngige said.
She pledged Federal Government’s commitment to implementing strategies that would stimulate increased production and value addition to meet local demands and boost export.
Ngige tasked the association to work closely with relevant stakeholders in the agric-commodity sector to drive innovation and entrepreneurship.
While acknowledging the challenges facing the sub-sector, Ngige said that the ministry would continue to collaborate with relevant agencies, research institutions and the private sector with a view to addressing them.
On his part, the National President of NARPPMMAN, Alhaji Ahmadu Mustafa, said that Nigeria needs more than 200 million bags of 50 kg rice to mitigate hunger.
According to him, this can be cultivated in 60 million hectares of farm land by 60 million farmers producing 50 bags of rice paddy in each cropping season.
“This demand when matched with our present cultivation status places Nigeria in dire need of more than 55 million hectares to compensate for the difference and over 60 million farmers to be employed if we must continue with our poor obsolete technology of cultivation.
“It is worthy, therefore, to bring together all value chain players in the rice sector to attend to this demand that could stabilise our food security programme,’’ he said.
Ahmadu said that the association hopes to change the present technology of farming to a friendlier mechanised one that would attract unemployed youths and increase yield per hectare of cultivation.
Dr Victor Iyama, the President, Federation of Agricultural Commodity Association of Nigeria (FACAN), said that Nigeria could not continue to depend on food importation.
Iyama, who described rice as key to the survival of the country, said that the establishment of farm settlements was critical in addressing urban migration.
“We are looking forward to surpassing other countries in rice production in the next two or three years,’’ he said.
