The recent rice farming activities in Kano have been seen as a record-breaking achievement in the history of Nigeria, as far as that sector is concerned.

As one of the staple foods in Nigeria, the consumption of rice is said to have increased to 4.7 per cent, almost four times the global consumption growth.

This triggered a revolution in the sector; hence the increase in rice milling in Kano.

From 2015 to 2020, no fewer than 230 micro, small, medium and large rice mills have emerged. A lot of the existing ones have also been upgrading their capacities.

In places like Kura, Gezawa, Bunkure, Garun Malam and Tudun Wada local government areas of the state, it is common to see a cluster of small-scale rice millers doing business.

New mega rice mills with thousands of metric tons per month capacity are also on the increase. The recent one has a 160-ton-per-day capacity. It is the first mega rice mill owned by a woman in Kano State.

In the past seven years, the Nigerian government, in collaboration with the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), boosted the production of rice by according it high priority. In 2017, production got to 3.7million tons.

It was reported that rice milling revolution in Kano started in 2014 when 70,000 farmers were mapped out to benefit from the year’s dry season farming programme in the state’s agricultural scheme. It was in conjunction with the then Federal Ministry of Agriculture’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA).

It is also believed that the achievement recorded in the production of rice in Kano is a result of various agricultural policies introduced by the Federal Government. For example, the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP), through various associations, as well as the ATA, encouraged many people to venture into agriculture, especially dry season rice farming. This resulted in an increase in the number of rice farmers in the state as demand increased.

The new variety of beans (SAMPEA 20-T) was developed locally by Nigerian scientists at the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, in collaboration with the various partners, under the coordination of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF).

The PBR cowpea variety is genetically modified for resistance to Maruca vitrata, a lepidoptreran (moths and butterflies) insect pest that makes farmers record up to 90 per cent yield loss in severe invasion cases. It is also resistant to two notorious parasitic weeds – striga and alectra.

Farmers who adopt this new variety can harvest up to 2.9 tonnes per hectare after 70 to 75 days of planting, as against the 0.9 to 1 tonnes per hectare most cowpea farmers get from their farms after 100 to 120 days.

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