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Nigeria will be the highest exporter of rice in

  • Africa by 2012, according to a projection by the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RFAN). The association’s president, Alhaji Abubakar Wodi, claims that RFAN is making concerted efforts to boost rice production in the country.

    Wodi claims the country’s rice production capacity is about 3.5mn tonnes per year.

    However, about 1.8mn tonnes of rice is being imported to augment local demand, according to the RFAN president.

    He said the association was working toward increasing local production capacity by between 25-50% each year to meet local demand and a surplus for export.

    “Using our projected increase in production capacity, by 2005 the country should be producing about 6 million tonnes of rice,” Wodi says.

    The attainment of the figure will enable the country to achieved self-sufficiency in local demand with a little extra for export.

    “By the targeted year of 2012, the country should be exporting enough to make it the largest exporter of rice in Africa,” he says.