A professor of Agricultural Engineering at the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Christopher Akinbile has recommended the creation of specialized Rice Institute as a strategy to boost rice production and ultimately ban its importation in Nigeria.
He made the recommendation while delivering the 135th inaugural lecture of the University titled: The Wealth of Waste: From Water to Rice on Thursday, 21st September 2021 at the University Main Auditorium.
According to the Don, “to significantly turn Nigeria into a major rice producer; government should create specialized rice institute that will handle all research relating to Rice from breeding through processing and post-harvest operations,” adding that “such an institute will provide necessary information and other technical support to rice farmers and others in chain in order boost rice production in the country.”
Professor Akinbile said “after measures to shore up rice production have been institutionalized, government should step up robust awareness campaign to sensitize the public on the need to patronize and eat locally produced rice.”
Akinbile also suggested the formulation and implementation of a policy to forbid rice importation, adding that “smuggling of rice should then be criminalized in order to encourage increased local production and patronage of made in Nigeria rice.”
According to the Don, “rice is one the most common staple food globally and ranks third after Wheat and Maize. Rice consumed in Nigeria before 1960 were produced locally, however local production fell from 99% to 38% between 1960 and 1980 due to non-encouragement of rice farmers. Before the recent ban on rice importation in 2019, a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) report on food import showed that Nigeria spent N365 billion on importation of rice annually meaning Nigerians consume N1 billion worth of rice daily.”
Professor Akinbile said “if Nigeria wants to boost rice production and progressively reduce importation of the commodity, it should take a cue from African Rice Centre formerly West African Rice Development Association (WARDA), International Rice Association Research Institute (IRRI) and the Philippines Rice Research Institute (PRRI) which hinged their domination of rice production on specialized rice institutes.”
While recommending that government should introduce agricultural insurance scheme to protect farmers investment in rice production in the unlikely event of colossal losses of farm lands and produce to climate change and herders invasion, he added that “rice protein, though modest, is of high natural quality providing minerals, Vitamins and Fibre.
“The annual demand of Rice in Sub Saharan Africa with particular reference to Nigeria is increasing by 6% per year which is fuelled by increase in population growth. The world’s population is projected to reach 10 billion by 2050 and based on this projection there is great need to increase Rice production to meet the food needs of the growing population.
“Nigeria can also leverage on her vast waste water to increase rice production. He said most human activities that use water end up producing Waste Water which can be recycled for production of food grains like Rice. The practice of utilizing treated Waste water for irrigation is not an entirely new concept in this part of the world.
“The reuse of treated Waste Water in Agriculture is an option that is increasingly being investigated and used in regions with water scarcity. Globally water for Agriculture is becoming increasingly scarce and the causes are diverse and location specific and the option of treating Waste Waters for reuse and recycling therefore has become imperative and a healthy alternative,” Akinbile stated.
He advised that government “at all levels to put in place infrastructure to treat and reuse Waste Water as a viable alternative to the scarce fresh water supplies, which will lead to benefiting from the land border closure aimed at preventing Rice smuggling into Nigeria. Government effort should be geared at ensuring a synergistic and robust relationship between irrigators (farmers) and reliable Meteorological information supplies to achieve optimal crop production.”
Speaking in his capacity as the chairman of the occasion the vice chancellor, Professor Joseph Fuwape, described the lecturer as a vibrant, intelligent and diversified scholar who has immensely contributed to the growth and development of research and the body of knowledge in his area of core competence and remains a versatile and productive academic.
