Irrigation potentials and rice self-sufficiency in Nigeria: A review

Abstract

Nigeria has abundant land and water resources to embark on irrigation schemes to ensure all year round rice production. Additional yield to annual rice production through dry season farming in 2012 in 10 pilot States of the country was found to be over 1 million metric tonnes. This shows that an intensive and consistent irrigated rice production scheme will set Nigeria on a pathway to rice self-sufficiency thereby bringing an end to the gross loss in foreign exchange due to importation and smuggling of the commodity. The study reviewed irrigation subsector in Nigeria, and revealed that the prospects of achieving rice self sufficiency through irrigation farming is hampered by some major challenges namely-underdeveloped subsector promoted by fragmented, inconsistent and unimplemented policies, multiple water regulatory institutions with overlapping and duplicating mandate and poor management system. Other challenges include-the absence of a viable market for local rice as well as high cost of labour inputs, irrigation equipments and other operating costs. The study concluded that for Nigeria irrigation potentials to be harnessed towards rice self-sufficiency there is need to amend policies on irrigation and water resources, create conducive market for local producers and provide subsidized and appropriate farm implements.

Farmers’ perception of dry season rice farming in Edu local government area of Kwara State, Nigeria

“…They also knew that a good irrigation system ensures successful dry season rice farming. This corroborates with the findings of Ugalahi et al, (2016) who reported the same of dry season rice farming. Most of the respondents (79%) also knew that planting of rice in dry season should be done very early in the morning or late in the evening.…”

“…74 percent of the rice farmers also disagree that dry season rice farming is highly susceptible to diseases. The least identified perception of the farmers is that practicing dry season rice farming is capital intensive (M.S=1.39).This is in contrast with Ugalahi et al, 2016 who reported that the cost of practicing dry season rice farming through irrigation is very high.…”

“…About 70 percent also agreed that farming rice during dry season would ensure rice availability all year round. Ugalahi et al, (2016), also reported that dry season rice farmingcould afford the country the opportunity to attain rice selfsufficiency.About half (50%) of the respondents strongly disagreed that there is higher yield in dry season rice farming than wet season farming. The result also reported that more than half of the respondents (53.4%) strongly disagreed that seed wastage is high in dry season rice farming.…”

Exploring the factors causing the poor performance of most irrigation schemes in post-independence sub-Saharan Africa

“…Figures on the extent of this vary widely. For example, FAO (2016) reports 625,000 ha of flood-recession farming in Nigeria, but the size of the commercial rice harvest from the same period suggests that the figure should be 1.5 million ha (Ugalahi et al, 2016). While the FAO (2016) reports that no farmer-led AWM exists in Mozambique, Beekman et al (2014) report that at least 118,000 ha exists and add that underreporting is common for SSA.…”

Data Screening and Preliminary Analysis on the Impact of Rural Infrastructure on Rice Productivity in Kano State, Nigeria

“…Similarly, Binswanger et al (1993) maintained that controlled markets led to a growth rate of 87%, contributes 4% to agricultural output, and 17% to the demand for fertilizer, lift farmers liquidity position, and cut down the costs of business for banks and farmers. Further, Uduma et al (2016) opined that weak supportive market in the rural areas is a constraint to increasing rice productivity though Akudugu (2016) reported that access to a market is not significantly correlated to agricultural productivity.…”