Rice Farming: An Alternative To MMM
Rice farming is one of the most popular types of crop farming in Nigeria. Before the advent of imported rice, rice is hugely cultivated in Nigeria.
MMM is a Ponzi Scheme invented in a Russia. In Nigeria, the scheme attracted gullible investors with a promise of 30% interest on invested funds within one month. The scheme crashed in December 2016, Nigerian investors lost billions of Naira in the fraudulent scheme. Some of the investors committed suicide.
Rice is the most consumed food in Nigeria and most African and Asian countries. Most Nigerians eat rice at least once a day. You hardly see a get together party in Nigeria where rice is not cooked. Rice can be eaten in the form of Jollof rice, Fried rice, Coconut rice, white rice and Tuwo.
The two main types of rice planted in Nigeria are the lowland rice and the upland rice. Lowland rice also known as swamp rice. Most of the rice cultivated in Nigeria is done on wetland and fully irrigated farmland.
The dip in the international price of crude oil, devaluation of the Naira and the increase in imported rice duty have encouraged the local production of rice in Nigeria as imported varieties are too expensive.
The demand for rice in Nigeria is about 7 million tonnes while local production is 3.5 million tonnes as at 2016. A significant percentage of rice consumed in Nigeria is smuggled into the country from neighboring countries especially the Republic of Benin.
The huge gap is an opportunity for investors in rice farming and processing.
Republic of Benin consumes about 30% of the rice it imports; the other is exported and smuggled into Nigeria.
The devaluation of the Naira negatively impacted rice smugglers from the Republic of Benin as it became profitable to start growing rice in Nigeria. A 50kg bag of rice sold for N7000 few years ago now sells for N20, 000 due to the fall in value of the Naira against the US Dollar.
Locally produced rice is now very competitive in the market as it sells far below the imported variety. Smart investors in rice farming are now smiling to the bank.
Rice Farming – A Case of Kebbi Rice Farmers
Kebbi State is a state in North Western Nigeria. The state is well known for rice farming because of the presence of large expanse of wetland.
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) through its Anchor Borrowers Programme organized Kebbi Rice Farmers into a group and loaned each of the rice farmer N210,000 to cultivate one hectare of rice. The CBN loan came in form of inputs like seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and water pump etc. Some Farmers cultivated more than one hectare.
The N210,000 covers the cost for farm inputs like pesticides, fertilizers, water pumps etc
Mallam Alli, a rice Farmer in Argungu town in Kebbi State took the N210,000 CBN loan and cultivated one hectare of rice.
Mallam Alli’s one hectare of rice yielded 100 bags of 75kg paddy rice. Mallam Alli like other rice Farmers who took the CBN loan sold the 100 bags of rice to an offtaker for N10,000 each, making a total sales of N1million.
Mallam Alli has never made this kind of money since he has been planting rice for 15 years. He became a Millionaire within few months of planting rice.
All the rice farmers who took the CBN loan or used their own funds became emergency Millionaires within months.
Rice Farmers all over the country are making fortunes from their investments in rice farming.
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