Stakeholders have called for a stronger synergy between the public and private sectors to boost rice production in the country.

The stakeholders made this known during interviews with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Makurdi on Wednesday at the closing of a two-day Stakeholders’ Meeting on “Rice Value Chain’’ organised by German International Cooperation (GIZ).

NAN reports that the meeting had in attendance 250 agriculture stakeholders from Benue, Nasarawa and Cross River states.

Mrs Caroline Trimborn, Project Coordinator of the Green Innovation Centre for the Agriculture and Food Programme (GIAE) – Nigeria of German International Cooperation (GIZ), said a strong partnership between the public and private sector would yield positive gains for the country.

Trimborn added that the partnership would boost production of local rice and turn the country into a major exporter of the product.

She added that the synergy remained very vital for Nigeria’s agricultural sector, as it would support the country to achieve self sufficiency in rice production and consumption.

“The meeting focused on value chain approach and this basically means we looked at different actors and came to the conclusion that both the public and private sector need to work closely together.

“So we think it is about strong partnership because there is a huge potential in the synergy. That is why we want to bring both sides together,’’ Trimborn said.

Mr Stephen Kpama, Programme Manager, Nasarawa Agriculture Development Programme (NADP), said the progress made so far in the production of local rice was commendable.

Kpama added that a stronger collaboration with private investors could make Nigeria a major exporter of rice in the nearest future.

“I love what is happening with regard to rice production in this country and if Nigeria partners with other stakeholders, we can begin to export rice few years from now and our production will not just be for local consumption,’’ he said.

On his part, Mr Ubana Ubi, Zonal Manager, Cross River Agriculture Development Programme, said the public private synergy on rice would open business opportunities not just for the country, but also expose local rice farmers to the business side of rice production.

Ubi said that this would encourage the farmers to seek better ways of increasing production.

“I know we can change our mindset because most of our farmers are so conservative and because they are conservative, they don’t look at farming as a business.

“With the knowledge and intervention of GIZ coming in with good agronomic practices, farmer business school and so on.

“Our farmers can now change their mindset and adopt all the knowledge and the empowerment needed to boost their efforts.

“If our government and farmers can imbibe some of the knowledge offered to boost our production by the private sector who are interested in a partnership, definitely there will be food sufficiency in the country,’’ he said.

Ubi appealed to other Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) focused on agriculture to emulate GIZ by training farmers across the country on new methods of boosting production in agricultural produce. (NAN)

– Oct. 31, 2018 @ 16:45 GMT |