How To Start Rice Production in Nigeria

Rice is by far one of the most popular staple food in Nigeria. Annually, about 5.5 million tonnes are been consumed. Of these 5.5 million tonnes, farmers across the country could only produce 3.6 million tonnes leaving the remaining 1.9 million tonnes to be imported into the country. 1.9 million tonnes (cost about N365 billions) is a great vacuum for Nigerian entrepreneurs to fill. Come to think of it, the present government had put up policies in place to discourage importation of rice which had definitely resulted in high demand which the local farmers had not been able to meet thereby giving other intending entrepreneurs the opportunity to make money from it.

How to Start Rice Production in Nigeria

Rice farming is straightforward, requiring no special expertise. This means anyone regardless of his / her educational background can farm rice successful if the rules of the game are obeyed. One very good thing about rice farming is the small time frame it takes to reach it harvesting stage; just 4 months, making it viable for people to take a short-term loan for it. Least I forget, rice farming when practiced well is a very high yield crop capable of producing 100 bags from just an acre of land.

Now that you had known all these about rice farming, I know you are excited and want to learn how to start your own rice farm, calm down and take a deep breath, I would be taking you through the ‘how to’ tutorials. Feel free to ask me any question as I take you on the tour.

How to Start Rice Production in Nigeria

Selection of Appropriate Variety and Seed Selection
Various variety of rice exist, some are more adapted to a particular environment than the other so check out the nearest agro product market in your area to find out the best-suited variety for your area. Usually, the improved varieties are the best.

After you had bought or gotten your seed, the next thing is seed selection. This is done to rules out the probability of dead seeds been planted and records had shown that seeds selected are more likely to grow than that just spread. Doing this single act of selection would lead to increased germination and yield, increase resistant to pest and weed and produce consistent plant size.

Prepare a Nursery for the Seeds
Prepare the Nursery and raise the seed there, it is advisable to solarize the soil. Soil solarization is the process by which the soil is been heated by covering it with a polythene to avoid soil-borne diseases. It had been proven that solarization increase rice yield by 36 percent. 2-3 weeks later, these new plants would be ready for transplanting.

Getting a Land for Transplanting
The next step is acquiring a plant to transplant the rice plants from the nursery. The size of this land would be determined by your budget.

Generally, rice can be grown in upland soils or lowland swamp but getting the swampy area is the best. This is because rice is a water-loving plant and grows well in this type of environment. For those not able to have access to a swampy area, you would need additional budget for irritation so as to make water readily available to the plant.

{ Still on How To Start Rice Production In Nigeria }

Weeding and Application of Fertiliser
2 months after transplanting, weeks must have sprung up and start competing for nutrients with the rice. Weeding should be done using herbicides, though the use of hoeing method is also allowed. Some people weed twice depending on the nature of the disturbance.

The tight fertilizer should be applied a month after transplanting to give it the required nutrients needed to produce the maximum output. Organic fertilizer is the best but you can check your agro store for more suggestions.

Harvest Your Rice
In 4 months, it is ready for harvesting. It is not hard to know if rice is ready for harvesting as the plant would turn from green to brown. Start harvesting as fast as you could before pest and disease affect their market value.

After Harvest Activities
After harvesting, it should be sun-dried for 3-5 days to get all the moisture in it out to ease the separation of the hull from the grain. The next step is hulling to separate the hull from the grain using the hulling and blowing machine. After this, the rice should be parboiled and thus, your rice is ready for distribution.

I hope this article had been able to teach you how to start rice production in Nigeria and I do expect your feedback as you put into practice what you just learned. Thank you for reading this article and make use of the comment box below to drop your contribution and questions.

That’s it from NaijaQuest on ” How To Start Rice Production In Nigeria “, share your thought and suggestions with us through the comment box and like us on facebook.com/9jaquest or follow us on twitter.com/NaijaQuest.

Related:

tags: How To Start Rice Production In Nigeria, Rice Production In Nigeria, rice farming in Nigeria, Rice production Nigeria

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *