Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s special adviser on agriculture, Oluwarotimi Fashola, has identified inconsistent rainfall patterns as the major factor affecting rice production.

Mr Fashola said this in an interview with journalists in Lagos on Thursday while reacting to the constant hike in local rice prices. He added that intermittent drought, high cost of fertiliser, flooding, insecurity, reduction in land cultivation, poor irrigation system and diesel were contributing factors affecting rice production.

Mr Fashola claimed land areas used for rice cultivation in 2023 had reduced at the production level, leading to an increase in price. He said that from 2022 to “early this year,” Lagos sold Eko rice at N33,000 per 50kg bag but now, it is N43,000.

Mr Sanwo-Olu’s aide added, “From last year to early this year, we are buying a tonne of paddy at N240,000, now we are buying a tonne of rice paddy at N430,000. The cost of diesel has risen from N750 to between N1,300 and N1,500 in the north, and production of paddy has reduced considerably.

“Before the insurgents came in 2018, we were already hitting 12 million tonnes of paddy, but now, we barely do eight million tonnes, and the number of mills has increased. Let’s say in 2018, the number of the functioning mill in Nigeria is barely about 70. Right now, we have over 200 mills and the one functioning ones are more than 100.”

The governor’s aide noted that paddy was not an imported rice but locally produced. He said in Nigeria, rice was generally cultivated in one production cycle instead of three cycles due to the lack of a proper irrigation system.

”The production of paddy has reduced considerably, we do not have an irrigation system, and we now have inconsistent rainfall patterns as well as intermitted drought that affects rice production. Apart from that, we now equally have security issues. So, we have shrunk in our production level,” Mr Fashola explained.

He added, “The land area that we’re growing rice in 2023, right now, its production level has reduced. Our land level has returned to what we had in 2015 and 2018 because of insecurity, drought and flooding.”

Fashola said farmers could not afford fertiliser.

“Fertilisers that used to be between N10,000 and N15,000 is now about 40,000 per bag. There are issues with our production, and that is shrinking our production system,” he said.

The governor’s aide disclosed that many farmers in Lagos cultivated Ofada rice, adding that the government was gradually winning them into doing the kind of rice that was obtainable in the rice mill.

“Lagos farmers are still growing when it comes to rice production. The farmers are still developing, so right now, what we get from them is just about one per cent,” he noted. “This year, we bought about two trucks from Lagos farmers, which is about 60 tonnes. Lagos rice farm is divided into Ofada and the medium grain.”

According to him, the Ofada rice is popular because of the cost; a 50kg bag of Ofada is N60,000.

(NAN)