Photo From The Second Edition Of The Nigerian Rice Investment Forum In Abuja

L-R Tony Muoneke, Regional Vice President, RIFAN; Abimbola Okoya, General Manager, British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATNF); Hiroshi Kodoma, Senior Representative, Japan International Corporation Agency(JICA Nigeria Office); and Godson Ononiwu, Director, External Relations and Capacity Building Market II, USAID, at the NEPAD Business Group Nigeria 2nd Nigeria Rice Investment Forum in Abuja on Tuesday, 18-11-2014.

NEPAD Business Group Nigeria (NBGN) held the second edition of the Nigeria Rice Investment Forum from 17 – 18 November, 2014 in Abuja Sheraton Hotel. The Group staged the first edition of the forum on 24 – 25 November, 2008, also in Abuja. The outcomes of the first forum have been part of the ongoing success and transformation in the sector.

The NBGN Chairman, Chief Chris Ezeh while briefing journalists about the forum explained that the body, in the recent times tends to focus more on agriculture as it has identified the sector as one with huge potential to create jobs and wealth for economic development. “The country is blessed with good and favourable climate that require little or no improvement for maximum agricultural yields”, he said.

Rice is the most important food commodity and staple food of over half the world’s population. Since the mid-1970s, rice consumption in Nigeria has risen tremendously, at about 10 per cent per annum due to changing consumer preferences. Nigerian rice production, currently estimated at about three million tonnes of grain per year, does not meet the annual domestic demand of about five million tonnes. The supply gap is being met through rice imports which represent over 25 percent of all agricultural imports and more than 40 percent of domestic consumption. The imports are procured on the world market with Nigeria spending annually over US$300 million on rice alone.

However, rice is cultivated in virtually all the agro-ecological zones in Nigeria, from the mangrove and swampy ecologies of the River Niger delta in the coastal areas to the dry zones of the Sahel in the North. Despite this, the area cultivated to rice still appears small. In 2000, out of 25 million hectares of land cultivated to various crops, only about 6.37% was cultivated to rice. Majour rice producing zones in Nigeria include: Kano, Niger, Benue, Niger, Benue, Yobe, Kaduna, Anambra, Ebonyi, Kwara, Edo, Taraba and Kebbi States.

On the positive note, Nigeria’s rice has witnessed some remarkable developments in the last fourteen years, particularly under the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan and its Agricultural Transformation Agenda. Much still need to be done as domestic rice production has not increased sufficiently to meet the increased demand.

Several opportunities exist for investors in the three components of Rice Industry: Production, Processing and marketing to create wealth, employment and overall socio economic development of the country. The 2nd Nigeria Rice Investment Forum therefore intends to focus on practical steps to transform rice industry in Nigeria and West Africa for self sufficiency, sustainability and exportation. The forum will bring together relevant stakeholders, development partners and relevant government agencies and departments to achieve its objectives of creating opportunities and openings that will lead to setting up of rice production and processing projects in Nigeria and West Africa.