BASELINE SURVEY OF THE KANO RICE VALUE CHAIN

Thesis Overview

<p> <b>1.0 INTRODUCTION&nbsp;</b></p><p><b>1.1 BACKGROUND STUDY</b></p><p>The production, processing and marketing of cash crops such as rice, maize and groundnut are major sources of income for maintaining livelihoods particularly among people living in the rural areas of Nigeria. However majority of those engaged in such enterprises are resource poor and constrained. They operate in a context which is characterized by poor access to commodity and service markets, poor access to information and technology and thus their livelihoods are not improving. PropCom is a project aimed at facilitating functionality and efficiency of Nigerian commodity and service markets in such a way that these markets work for the poor. The goal is to improve livelihood of the poor by promoting their access and growth in commodity and service markets in line with the goals of poverty alleviation as envisages in NEEDS and the attainment of the Millennium Development goals. During the first implementation of its catalytic activities, PrOpCom will focus on will focus on rice as the primary commodity. In order to establish an effective monitoring and evaluation system that would effectively measure progress towards achievement of the project objectives and targets, baseline information needs to be collected and documented. Based on this background this baseline survey of rice value chain in the Kano catchments area is carried out as part of the activities aimed at promoting pro-poor markets opportunities for enhancing income, productivity and livelihoods. The main objectives of the survey were to:</p><p>&nbsp;• Provide baseline information against which progress towards programme objectives and targets identified in the project (PropCom) logframe can be measured.&nbsp;</p><p>• Collect data related to all Objectively Verifiable Indicators(OVIs) in PropCom’s log frame&nbsp;</p><p>• Provide basis of comparison between the different sites where the project catalytic activities are undertaken&nbsp;</p><p><b>1.1 Trend in Rice Production in Nigeria&nbsp;</b></p><p>Indigenous rice species Oryza glaberimma Stued has been grown in Nigeria for hundreds of years (Hardcastle, 1959), but the higher yielding exotic type (Oryza sativa L. ) was introtroduced into the country around 1890 and today accounts for most of the rice grown in Nigeria. Rice is presently one of the most important staple food crops in Nigeria and is grown mainly by smallholder farmers. Rice formerly occupied a relatively obscure but elitist position in the dietary habits of Nigerians, today it has become an important staple food for majority of the citizenry. In the past, the production of rice was mostly at the subsistence level to meet the food needs of the family. However, in recent years rice production is becoming increasingly geared for the market, becoming an important food and cash crop to the smallholder farmers in Nigeria. The national average annual production of rice in Nigeria has increased from 207,200 tons in the early 1960s to about 3,001,028 tons in th late 1990s, while the total area under rice production has increased from about 179,200 ha in the early 1960s to about 1,742,582 ha in the late 1990s (fig.1). In 2000 around 6.7% of the 25 million ha cultivated with various crops was under rice. <br></p><p> Successive governments in Nigeria have continued to encourage rice producers to increase their output so as to meet both domestic and market demand. Such efforts include the establishment in 1953 of the Federal Rice Station (now the National Cereals Research Institute, NCRI), which between 1954 and 2002 has released 54 varieties to serve different ecologies in Nigeria (Ogundele and Okoruwa, 2006). Despite these efforts and the steady increase in the hectarage and annual total output from the 1960s to date rice yields have generally remained quite low (fig. 1). According to Ogundele and Okoruwa (2006), average national rice yields in 2000 was 1.85 tons/ha during the wet season and 3.05 tons/ha during the dry season. These values are very low compared to 3.0 and 7.0 tons/ha respectively in rain-fed and irrigated systems in places like Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire. 1961-1965 1966-1970 1971-1975 1976-1980 1981-1985 1986-1990 1991-1995 1996-2000 Area Cultivated (,000 ha) 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 Output (,000 tons) 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 Average Area Cultivated Annually Average Annual National Output 1961-1965 1966-1970 1971-1975 1976-1980 1981-1985 1986-1990 1991-1995 1996-2000 Average Yield (tons/ha) 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 (A) (B) Figure 1: Rice production trends in Nigeria between 1961 to 2000 (A) average area cultivated per annum (B) average national annual output (data source: PCU, 2002).<br></p>