A rice farmer in Bayelsa State and the managing director of Ovieya Rice Farm, Mr Ovieya Sini, has begun local rice production from his farm at Famgbe community in Yenagoa Local Government Area.
Sini, who is currently cultivating about 15 plots of rice farm in his community, said his feat was borne out of the desire to produce rice that can feed Bayelsa and other states in the Niger Delta region, as well as ensure food availability.
He said rice from his farm was available during the Christmas celebrations in December 2023, and urged youths to get involved in agriculture to fight unemployment in the country.
He also called on the state government to assist him to cultivate larger hectares of rice farm in the next farming season, as well as provide production facilities in Yenagoa for farmers to mill their rice without much stress.
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Mr Sini, who had few months ago lamented over flooding and constant pest attacks on the farms when Daily Trust reporter visited the farm, said the success achieved in his farm was as a result of hard work and commitment to work.
He said although he was disturbed by the rising water level in the surrounding rivers in the state during the rainy season, God helped him, such that there was no flood in the state, a situation that would have destroyed his farms.
He said the major challenge rice farmers in the state were facing was lack of functional processing facilities, a situation that has discouraged interested youths to go into rice farming. He added that he hoped to cultivate a larger farm this year.
He said although the yield may not be commensurate with the resources he invested in the farm at the moment, he was fulfilled that he started rice production in the state, where most people believed it was an uphill task. He hopes that the next farming season would be gainful.
Reeling out his challenges while cultivating the rice farm, he said he was constrained with the riverine terrain, which makes it difficult for him to transport farm produce to the upland for processing.
He said, “I faced serious challenge to convey the farm produce to upland for processing, you know our terrain is riverine. If the government can assist us with boats and other palliative measures, I think we can produce rice that can feed Bayelsa and other states. Our land is good for rice cultivation.
“We also need funds to expand the farm. For example, I cultivated 15 plots last season, if I had additional funds maybe from government or any other source, I could expand it to 30 or 50 plots. With this, we can tackle food shortage in our society.
“I have invested a lot of resources already in the farm, but if the government can assist with pesticides, tackle flooding in our society, we will have a bumper harvest.”
He said the next process in the production was packaging the remaining rice in bags for sale, as well as showcase some made-in-Bayelsa rice.
