Image of a rice farm with mist rising in the background.

Rice Farming in Nigeria — Come Rain or Shine .

November 25, 2013

Farmers in Nigeria improve their incomes and national food security by learning how to cultivate rice during the dry season.

Maimuna Abdullahi was accustomed to cultivating rice only during the wet season, when frequent rains and low temperatures create an ideal climate for the crop. Like most Nigerian rice farmers, this mother and rice farmer of seven years thought that tending her paddies in the dry season, under the rainless harmattan (a dry, dusty air mass that originates in the Sahara desert and blankets Nigeria from October to March), would be too difficult and expensive to be profitable for her family.

Maimuna changed her mind in January 2013, after participating in one of several dry-season rice farming demonstrations led by USAID and Chemonics in rural areas of Kano, Kebbi, and Jigawa under the MARKETS II project.

At the demonstration, she learned about the factors that can make dry-season farming lucrative despite its higher production costs, such as greater water control, sufficient sunlight, and low humidity, which minimizes pest infestation. She also learned current agronomic techniques, including when to transplant seedlings from the nursery to the field, deep placement (i.e., applying fertilizer at a depth of 7-10 centimeters to prevent it from washing away), and surface flooding irrigation.

“The training I received gave me the confidence to go into dry-season rice farming. I will definitely cultivate more hectares next year, God willing. The dry-season rice production has increased my income tremendously, and everybody in my family is happy because our standard of living has improved.”

Maimuna Abdullahi, rice farmer

When Maimuna returned to her rice paddy, she decided to put her training to the test and cultivate during the dry season. She planted at the right time, placed seeds closer together, and maintained optimal water levels. The results were encouraging. During the June 2013 harvest, she reaped more than 6 metric tons per hectare from her farm, a 43 percent increase from her wet-season yield of 4.2 metric tons.

Excluding production costs, she will earn $1,690 per hectare from her paddy, providing additional income for her family at a crucial time when most farmers need funds to buy inputs such as high-quality seeds and fertilizers for wet-season production. In a country where 78 percent of the population lives on less than $2 a day, this is a significant achievement.

43

percent increase in yields for farmer Maimuna Abdullahi after participating in a dry-season rice farming demonstration

$1,690

per hectare; the additional income farmer Maimuna Abdullahi will make through dry-season rice farming

3,000

rice farmers trained on dry-season production as of November 2013

Maimuna is thankful for the training she received under the MARKETS II project and is excited about her family’s future.

“The training I received gave me the confidence to go into dry-season rice farming,” she said. “I will definitely cultivate more hectares next year, God willing. The dry-season rice production has increased my income tremendously, and everybody in my family is happy because our standard of living has improved.”

As of November 2013, the MARKETS II project had trained 3,000 rice farmers on dry-season production. In addition to boosting the quality of life for rural families, the increased annual output of farmers like Maimuna improves food security in Nigeria — where rice has become a staple food — and reduces the country’s reliance on expensive rice imports from countries like China and Thailand.