Taraba has been one of the leading rice producing states in the country, but this was not noticed until after the closure of borders against the importation of foreign rice.
For many years, rice millers from the South East and Kano State have been sourcing their paddy rice from Taraba, and merchants from different parts of the country have made the state their primary source for local rice over the years.
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Our correspondent reports that rice is produced in commercial quantities both during the wet and dry seasons in 10 out of the 16 local government areas of the state. They include Jalingo, Ardo-Kola, Karim-Lamido, Lau, Gassol, Bali, Ibbi, Wukari and Donga.
The Rivers Benue, Donga, Taraba and Lamurde which stretch several kilometres in the state, sustains water all year round and provides good source of water to dry season rice farmers.
There are fertile and marshy lands cumulatively stretching over 300km by the sides of the rivers which are good resources to rice farmers for both wet and dry season farming activities.
Though there is no reliable statistics on the annual rice production of the two sessions in the state, the state branch of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RFAN) said the state contributed about 40 per cent of local rice consumed in the southern part of the country.
The state Chairman of RIFAN, Alhaji Tanko Bobbo Andame, said the state also contributed close to 70 per cent of the local rice consumed in Northern Nigeria.
Alhaji Tanko said the closure of borders and ban on importation of rice had created high demand for local rice, a development which he noted, attracted more farmers in the state to key in into rice farming because of the robust value chain.
According to RIFAN, there are over 44,000 rice farmers under the association in the state and that all of them benefited from the ABP loan scheme.
Andame further said rice farming was now a major employment provider in the state for which thousands of youths and women were making good earnings.
Daily Trust findings also revealed that the Federal Government’s Anchor Borrower Programme (ABP), through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has helped small-holder farmers to expand their activities in the state.
At present, rice is the leading crop produced by farmers in the state, followed by maize.
Our correspondent further reports that a small scale farmer produces between 100 to 400 bags of paddy, while a medium scale farmer produces between 1,000 and 1,500 bags of paddy rice annually. Large scale farmers produce over 4,000 bags each of paddy rice in the state.
The owner of Ganzaki Rice Mill, Alhaji Aliyu Sarkin Noma, who doubles as a large scale rice farmer, is a retired senior civil servant. He has over 150 hectares of rice under cultivation.
Sarkin Noma has been producing over 10,000 bags of paddy rice during the wet season annually for the past five years, in addition to 6,000 bags of paddy rice during the dry season every year.
He told Daily Trust that he started rice milling business six years ago on a small scale and that because of the high demand of local rice he increased production.
Other large scale rice farmers in the state include the Chief of Gassol, Alhaji Idi Ciroma, a former Senator, Dahiru Bako, Dantanimu Soja, Tanko Bobbo Andame, Hajiya Matanhaki, Chief of Mutum Biyu and Alhaji Sani Muhammed.
Some of the farmers said the ban on the importation of rice had made local farmers to get value for their products.
A female farmer, Maryam Kasimu, who started rice farming three years ago, told Daily Trust that she started as a small-holder and rose to a large scale farmer.
She said when she started dry season rice farming in Karim-Lamido, she harvested 20 bags of paddy rice and that in the following years her yields improved, and that during the 2019 dry season, she harvested 500 bags of paddy rice.
According to her, before the ban on the importation of rice, a 100kg bag of paddy rice was sold at N4,000, but that now the same bag was sold at N17,000.
Maryam said rice farmers were making good money which attracted more people into rice farming in the state.
Another farmer, Hayiya Matanhaki, said she started farming 20 years ago but that at the time she farmed maize.
She told Daily Trust that the high demand for local rice attracted her to shift from maize to rice and that she harvested 4,200 bags of paddy rice last year.
Hajiya Matanhaki, who is the state Chairperson of the Association of Paddy Rice Merchants (APRM), said more women were now into rice farming in the state.
Daily Trust findings also revealed that there are many major rice markets in the state: they include Mutum-Biyu, Tella, Bantaje, Donga, Garba-Chede, Maihula, Mutum-Daya, Didango, Karim-Lamido, Lau, Jebu and Gazabu.
Other markets are Gassol, Sabon Gida, Yelwan Tau and Takalafiya.
Markets for rice produced in Taraba during the wet season start from October and end in February and each day more than 20 trucks loaded with paddy rice are transported out of the state.
The local rice milling industry in the state, it was gathered, has provided unemployed youths with job opportunities and the industry is expanding because of the demand for local rice in the country.
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