Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, the governor of Ondo State has urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to consider lifting the ban on rice importation.
Akeredolu said the country had the capacity to produce rice for job creation and exportation.
He spoke while inspecting rice harvest in Akure and environs cultivated in collaboration with the National Centre For Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM) using a Japanese technology known as Sawah Eco-technology for rice farming.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) expressed optimism that his state could be self-sufficient in rice production if the technology was fully harnessed.
Represented by his Special Adviser on Agriculture and Agric-business, Mr Akin Olotu, Governor Akeredolu said the state government would not venture into rice cultivation but partner with rice farmers to use the Sawah technology to boost production.
He explained that the technology would enable farmers to cultivate rice in three cycles a year and therefore more profit for the farmers.
“We have swampy or low lands across the state. All the swampy lands are over 20,000 hectares and this technology has shown what we could produce from one hectare. A farmer can make up to N1.8million annually from one hectare using this technology.
“It was courageous for President Buhari to ban rice importation. We have no business importing rice. We were creating jobs for other countries but now the jobs are here and youths have to key into the project instead of looking for white-collar jobs.
“We will also be introducing fishery into the rice fields. There will be more training and sensitisation of farmers,” he said,
National Coordinator of Sawah Eco-Technology, Dr. Ademiluyi Yinka, said President Buhari approved the training for rice farmers in some selected states through NCAM.
Dr. Ademiluyi stated that the technology encourages the use of low lands for rice cultivation and produces more yields per hectare more than the conventional methods of growing rice.
He said weed and pest control was easily done with the technology.
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
