Rice farmers in Nigeria's Ebonyi State say they expect a bumper harvest following the introduction of improved rice seedlings by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Chairman of Abakaliki Rice Mill Owners Association, Mr. Vincent Nwibo, said following dwindling rice harvest in the area, farmers entered into a partnership with USAID which deployed agro-technical officers to assist them.
"USAID in partnership with another international body CANDEL, supplied fero 44 and 52 (improved rice seedlings), herbicides and other input to farmers," Nwibo said. He said that preliminary tests conducted by the group showed that a hectare of land could now produce up to 7.2 tonnes as against the previous two tonnes or three tonnes. He said that members hope that the market, which has also been declining in the last eight years, would pick up this year.
"In the early 1980s to 1990s, more than 30 trucks of processed rice were loaded daily from Abakaliki, but the situation changed from the late 90s when we started recording less than 10 trucks per day," he said.
Nwibo noted that other problems facing rice farmers were lack of government support and use of obsolete equipment in rice farming. He said that a "de-stoning machine" to eliminate stones from rice had been installed in the area, adding that rice from Abakaliki can now match imported rice in terms of quality.
The rice millers want the government and corporate bodies to invest in the agro-equipment manufacturing industry. Nwibo also made a case for the construction of irrigation dams to encourage all-season farming. He noted that the state government, in conjunction with UNIDO, hopes to build a thermal station next year to generate about 15 megawatts of electricity. The raw materials for the power station would be derived from rice husks sourced from the Abakaliki rice mills.
The Nation
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