In a renewed effort to boost rice production in the country, the Federal Government yesterday launched the second phase of the National Rice Development Strategy (NRDS II) and the Competitive Africa Rice Platform (CARP) Nigeria.

The German International Cooperation (GIZ) supports the 10-year document being implemented from 2020-2030. It seeks to provide direction for the development of the rice subsector to achieve government’s goals of self-sufficiency in rice production, food and nutrition security, employment creation and production of surplus for export.

The Minister of State Ministry for Agriculture and Rural Development, Baba Shehuri, during the launch in Abuja, yesterday, explained that CARP, formerly known as Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) is a platform dedicated to the productivity and sustainability of the rice industry with the aim of ensuring the competitiveness of Nigerian rice and sustainability of the Nigeria rice sector.

He recalled that the NRDS document was adopted at the 44th National Council of Agriculture (NCA) by all the stakeholders with support from Competitive Africa Rice Platform (CARP).

He explained that CARP, a multi-stakeholders’ platform, was set up to advocate policies and drive transformational changes in standard practices in the rice sector, adding that the Board of Trustees (BoT) of CARP has been inaugurated by the  federal ministry and is domiciled in the ministry for effective coordination and operational management to achieve its lofty goal.

Shehuri noted that the NRDS-I was used to develop the Rice Transformation Agenda under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda and Agricultural Promotion Policy (APP), adding that it served as a catalyst for the commencement of the rice revolution in the country.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ernest Umakihe, in his remarks, said the NRDS-I, which took place between 2009 and 2019 witnessed tremendous successes including increase in areas under cultivation, increase in quantity of paddy available to mills, proliferation of Integrated Rice Mills across the country and significant improvement in the quality/competiveness of Nigerian milled rice.

Other successes include provision of enabling business environment by the Federal Government, which encouraged continuous investment in the rice industry leading to Nigeria being ranked as the highest rice producer in Africa.

He said the Competitive Africa Rice Platform (CARP)-Nigeria, formerly known as Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP), is a multi-stakeholder advocacy platform to drive transformational changes in standard practices to promote sustainable rice industry in Nigeria.

The permanent secretary said the platform was set up to ensure competitiveness of home grown rice and sustainability of the Nigeria’s rice sector.