OP 01 RICE PRODUCTION AND POVERTY ERADICATION IN NIGERIA
WORLD FOOD DAY (October 16, 2019)
RICE PRODUCTION AND POVERTY ERADICATION IN NIGERIA
Akyuz Murat, Ph.D.
Department of Business Administration
Nile University of Nigeria
Introduction
Rice
plays an important role in the agricultural economy of Nigeria. It is one of
the major staple foods and rice is largely consumed by both rural and urban
dwellers in Nigeria. The production level of rice in Nigeria is insignificant
to the demand for rice in Nigeria. Higher standards of living for rice farmers
can only be sustained if farmers are able to produce more rice per unit of
input. This higher productivity leads to higher profits from farming and a
reduction in poverty. Thus, one way that rice production helps alleviate
poverty is by increasing the productivity of farmers. This is the
"direct" contribution to poverty alleviation. Rice is a major crop for poverty reduction in
Nigeria, it has emerged as one of the fastest-growing agricultural sub-sectors;
moved from a ceremonial to a staple food such that some families cannot do
without rice in a day.
STRATEGIES TO INCREASE
PRODUCTIVITY OF FARMERS IN NIGERIA
The strategies
to increase and sustain rice productivity may be divided into four areas, each
comprising several components. The strategies and components are mutually
interactive and supportive. The four areas are listed below and the relative
components outlined:
Preserving and
realizing the gains achieved during the green revolution in:- Integrated Crop Management
- Integrated Pest Management
- yield-gap bridging
- increasing on-farm yields
- lessening post-harvest losses
Increasing potential for rice yields and for value-adding enterprises in:
- Germplasm improvement: conventional procedures and biotechnological and molecular methods
- Grain quality and product-value enhancement
- Rice-system diversification
Facilitating integrated and environment-friendly management of natural resources for:
- water
- soil health and integrated plant nutrition
- greenhouse-gas emissions
- biodiversity
- ecoregional aspects
Initiating appropriate policies for:
- increased investment in rice systems and in rice research and technologies development
- markets, prices, globalization, and employment
- human-resources strengthening, communications, and cooperation
HOW RICE CAN ERADICATE
POVERTY
Reducing
hunger and extreme poverty is goal number one of the United Nations’ (UNs’)
Millennium Development Goals. This was the main reason for the UN declaration
of the year 2004 as the International Year of Rice. In 2002, rice was the
source of more than 500 calories per person per day for over 3 billion people.
Furthermore, rice cultivation is the principal activity and source of income
for more than 100 million households in developing countries in Asia, Africa
and Latin America
The
concerted and coordinated efforts to improve rice production through science,
research and development in the 1970s and 1980s enabled global rice production
to meet the demand of a growing population by:
1. Creating employment opportunities
2. Increasing the income of rice farmers
3. Enhancing access to the rice of the poor
populations living in urban centers across Nigeria
Conclusion
It
is concluded that rice production can eradicate poverty if it is planted in
the massive form where the citizens can consume and the leftover can be exported
to the rest of the world. These will generate employment opportunities, it is
to become a source of income to the greater majority of the people and increase the living standard of people.
Nigeria
as a Nation needs to invest more on rice production by providing fund to the
local farmers and enabling environment to ensure that rice farmers increase
their productive output. The government of Nigeria need to provide means of
controlling pest in rice farms. The government of Nigeria should educate
farmers on the need to venture into rice farming and provide the needed seed
that can grow in Nigerian land.
Thanks
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