In this interview with AgroNigeria, he shares from his wealth of experience and discusses the challenges facing rice cultivation in Nigeria, and also feasible solutions.


Excerpts…

At the Nigeria Agriculture Awards which held recently, you received an Achiever in Agriculture Award, based on your contribution towards rice production in Africa. How were you able to achieve all that?
Firstly, I thank the people who considered me among those to be honoured, because they alone are aware of the criteria they used. We worked with the Honourable Minister, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina on rice transformation, and it was generally accepted that we made some impact in this regard during that period. I guess that was the basis for the award.

As at now, we still import rice into Nigeria. What do you think is responsible for this and how can it be curbed?
I think what we need is to do a little bit of coordination of our efforts and recognise that there is a large difference between subsistence and commercial rice cultivation. When we talk about subsistence cultivation, the yield the farmer gets; whether half, one or two tons per hectare, doesn’t make any difference, in as much as he has something to eat. On the other hand, commercial rice cultivation is a business. Thus, the environment; including input and methods used to plan, must guarantee high returns that will give the farmer some profit after taking account of his inputs into the business. Thus, commercial rice cultivation should be seen as a business, and not just growing rice for the sake of it. This means that we will have to put more emphasis on areas that are best endowed for rice production. Usually, people will say that rice can grow anywhere in the country. It is true, but then, as I said, you have to distinguish between commercial and subsistence rice plantations.

What parts of the country yield best in terms of rice production?
According to the statistics given to us by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the North-West, North-East and North Central produce almost 75 percent of Nigeria’s rice, and that speaks for itself because those are the areas where the big Fadamas that can be irrigated exist. For instance, there is the Goronyo irrigation system in Sokoto, Bakolori in Zamfara and a large expanse of Fadamas in Kebbi State. So, these states have irrigation systems which are advantageous to them. They can plant rice twice in a year, and this irreversibly generates more money for the farmers.

Why is irrigation more of a modern practice?
I think it was one of the basic mistakes we made at the time the irrigation systems were being installed. It was generally thought that the South required only supplementary irrigation, while the North required a full one. For irrigation to be very effective and economic for the user, it has to be driven by gravitational force, and not the usual sprinkler and overhead methods. The sprinkler irrigation system, apart from loss of moisture into the atmosphere, costs money to buy fuel that would be used to pump water. By the time you add the cost of fuelling the generator that would be used to pump water, you discover that it is way more expensive. However, in the gravitational system, when you pump the water once, it flows around by gravitation.

Which irrigation system is commonly used in the North?
The gravitation irrigation system.

Is it not applicable here in the South?
Of course, it is applicable. All you need to do is develop the land, as it must be near perfect level, so that water can flow by gravity.

Does this mean irrigation is easier in the North?
Well, the Fadamas are flat already, so the cost of land preparation is smaller. Here in the South, we have rolling lands. It doesn’t mean we cannot do it. We can, but it is going to cost a lot of money.

Is the government looking to develop this?
I don’t know if they are presently looking into that. All I know is that it is going to be an expensive venture. Instead of spending so much money trying to develop such an irrigation system, I think we should give comparative advantage to where the system already exists. This way, we can use the land in the South for the cultivation of other crops like cocoa, cassava, plantain and banana. If this is done efficiently, farmers can still make a lot of money. Also, the few areas in the South, such as states like Anambra, Enugu and Abia that have lands that are flat and heavy enough to retain water can be used for low land rice cultivation.

How do you think the government can make agriculture more attractive to the younger generation?
Dr. Akinwumi Adesina started that already. All the government needs to do is to provide the input, implements and loans for them to use. For instance, if a farmer in Kebbi grows rice and is making like 1 million naira profit per year on two crops, I am sure a lot of young people will run to farming as well. This is so, because the question is; how many of them will earn that much in a year, if they work for the government?