Studying the ongoing Nigerian economic crisis that has led to the cost of essential food items soaring beyond reach, it is clear that rice presents the biggest challenge of all. We need a new policy that looks something like this

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Worldwide, about 80m hectares of irrigated lowland rice provide 75% of global output. In Nigeria, we have a huge wetland in the Niger Delta but are failing to make use of it

[2] Across south and Southeast Asia, rice is grown in bundled fields or paddies, which are surrounded by a small embankment that keeps the water in. This has led to accelerated production across the region. Our Niger Delta is tailor-made for this kind of rice production

[3] Rainfed lowland rice is grown in river deltas and coastal areas, using bundled fields that are flooded with rainwater for at least part of the cropping season. Rainfed lowland rice predominates in areas of greatest poverty like South Asia and Southeast Asia

[4] Vietnam’s Mekong Delta produces about 20m tonnes of rice a year

[5] In India and Bangladesh, the Ganges–Brahmaputra Delta produces the bulk of their rice. It is really only Basmati rice that is grown upland at the foot of the Himalayas

[6] In Pakistan, the Indus Delta produces virtually all their rice. In Pakistan (which has an identical sized economy to Nigeria), they are desperately trying to catch up with the likes of China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, The Philippines, etc. It is time Nigeria joined this race

[7] In Thailand, the Chao Phraya River Delta accounts for the bulk of their rice production with an annual crop of about 30m tonnes

[8] Nigeria only produces about 4m tonnes of rice, which is way below our domestic consumption figure of 7m tonnes. Very little of this is lowland rice grown in the Niger Delta

[9] Our south-south governors have got to stop hiding behind oil pollution because less than 10% of the Niger Delta is polluted by oil spills. It is only really Ogoniland that cannot sustain lowland rice at the moment. There is absolutely nothing stopping us growing say 20m tonnes of rice across Ijawland today

[10] President Bola Tinubu needs to hold an emergency rice summit with the Niger Delta governors today on this matter. I challenge the Niger Delta governors to explain to us why they have not established industrial rice plantations. Between them, the coastal areas of Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Ondo states should easily match say Burma’s rice crop of 13m tonnes

Ayoakinfe@gmail.com