Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Abubakar Bagudu, has revealed how policies by his administration made the state the leading rice-producing centre in Nigeria
Bagudu, said the need to create a sustainable means of livelihood for his people motivated him to take steps to transform rice business farming in the state into a business venture.
The governor disclosed that on assuming office, he immediately put down a sum of N4 billion as seed money to convince the Bank of Industry and the Central Bank of Nigeria for partnership and inputs to rice farmers in the state to go into commercial farming.
Bagudu noted that his administration also designed a template where each farmer agreed to produce at least six tonnes of rice per hectare of land after being given a minimum of N210,000 per hectare to cover farm inputs and seedlings.
The governor said that under the arrangement, no fewer than 78,000 farmers had been fully registered under the state’s rice programme with the Central Bank of Nigeria, known as Anchors Borrowers Programme, ABP.
“We have had very successful dry and wet rice farming seasons and as a result, farmers in Kebbi State have recorded at least 1.4 million tonnes of rice this year,” Bagudu told Vanguard.
“The next thing we need to do is to handle the distribution of the rice we have produced so that Nigerians can begin see the local rice, which is by far better than the imported paddy rice from outside.
“To be able to do that successfully, we are going into partnership with Lagos State, which is like a window to the world and we are going to mobilise all stakeholders, including market women, to be shareholders in the plant we are going to use in processing and distributing rice from Lagos”, he added.
Bagudu, who is also the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Rice and Wheat Production in Nigeria, expressed optimism that Nigeria will attain self-sufficiency in rice production.
“My thinking is that we have achieved self sufficiency in rice because as we speak, we have enough paddy rice for millers across the country.
“I can tell you that there is no miller in Nigeria today who does not have enough stock to process. This gives us the confidence that Nigeria may be self sufficient in rice production”, he stated.
He said a total of sum of N27 billion disbursed to 219,837 small holder rice farmers nationwide, who have successfully cultivated at least 246,837 hectares of rice under the ABP.
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