Syngenta Foundation, Stakeholders Seek to Strengthen Rice Value Chain in Nigeria

A leading global agricultural development organisation, Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA), has partnered other stakeholders in the agriculture sector in their efforts to promote sustainable agricultural development.

SFSA has expressed commitment in improving the country’s rice value chain aimed at enhancing productivity.

This commitment was reiterated at the Rice Value Chain Workshop, with the theme: ‘Strengthening the Rice Value Chain in Nigeria’, held on Wednesday in Abuja.

The one-day high level stakeholders’ workshop organised by the Foundation in collaboration with Derftdan Resources Limited, had in attendance policy makers, farmers groups, academia, financial institutions, government Institutions and other major stakeholders across the rice value chain in country.

The event, which was opened by Robert Berlin, head of Agricultural Services Operations at SFSA in his welcome address, commended the participants for attending the validation programme.

He said the workshop was to verify and validate the assessment carried out by SFSA and Derftdan on targeted interventions to strengthen the rice value chain, analyze the study recommendations, and explore and translate China’s own successful value chain technologies and practices into approaches that can be adapted in Nigeria.

The workshop came a few months after the federal government launched a ten-year National Rice Development Strategy (NRDS 11) aimed towards achieving self-sufficiency in rice production.

Speaking on the sideline of the event, Nigeria Country Programme Manager of Syngenta, Isaiah Gabriel, said the goal of the study conducted by the Foundation and Derftdan was to provide an overview of rice production, post-harvest processing and marketing segments and address the inefficiencies in the entire supply chain.

According to him, “Our goal is also to identify challenges and gaps, and explore strategies for translating China’s successful value chain practices into approaches that can be adopted in the country to boost its rice production and processing.”

He added that the study was supported by 2,249 farmers surveys across eight states of Cross Rivers, Edo, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Kano, Kebbi, Nasarawa and Niger.

Also speaking, Senior Agribusiness Consultant at Derftdan, Mr. Richard Ogundele, presented some of the gaps in the rice sector.

According to him, “The opportunities to improve rice production in Nigeria cut across the entire value chain, but particular need for improvement lies in the areas of quality seed, mechanisation, irrigation, processing and extension delivery services.

“If we cannot get these right, we will not be able to get there,” Ogundele said, adding that the nation needed to be focused and firm in its policy on rice, identifying market oriented and import dependent policy as the surest way to meet global demand.

“Once we get the rice quality standard right, every other thing will be in order,” he added.

The stakeholders agreed during the panel discussions that the known problems associated with the country’s rice value chain still exist, there was need to use innovative technology to enhance productivity, address security issues pragmatically and come up with a public private dialogue platform for the rice sector.

Emphasis was laid on implementation of the various recommendations with a view to acting on the solutions proposed during the event.

Earlier, in his keynote address, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Hon. (Dr.) Mohammed Mahmood Abubakar, represented by thr Deputy Director, Rice Value Chain, Bashir Umar, commended the Foundation for its unrelenting contribution towards strengthening the rice value chain in Nigeria.

He assured the participants of the federal government’s readiness to support smallholder farmers and bridge the funding gap.

The stakeholders who delivered goodwill messages were the President of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, Aminu Mohammed Goronyo; Senior Programme Officer, Agriculture, BMGF, Dr. Audu Grema; Executive Director, National Cereals Research Institute, Dr Umar Aliyu; Vice Chancellor of Technical University, Prof. Adesola Ajayi; Deputy Vice Chancellor, Ebonyi State University, Prof. Happiness Ogelebe, among others.

They all reiterated their commitment towards ensuring that the resolutions made at the end of the workshop would be implemented.