National Rice Development Strategy II 2020 - 2030.

The National Rice Development Strategy II (NRDS II) is the updated version of the initial strategy, reflecting the ongoing priority of the Nigerian government and key rice stakeholders to boost domestic rice production to meet national demand. Despite significant investments from both the public and private sectors, local production remains insufficient. NRDS II has been developed with a focus on current and future trends, sector challenges, and appropriate mitigation strategies. This 10-year strategic plan aims to (i) guide the rice sub-sector towards achieving competitiveness in both domestic and regional markets; (ii) realize the government's goals of self-sufficiency in rice production, ensuring food and nutrition security, creating employment, and generating wealth; (iii) double rice production and create a surplus for the West African markets.
The NRDS II has identified several key objectives to drive the growth of Nigeria's rice sector by 2030: (i) sustain the increase in paddy production; (ii) enhance and strengthen seed systems; (iii) expand mechanization in rice production and processing to reduce labor intensity, increase efficiency, and lower production costs; (iv) continue the expansion of domestic milling and processing; (v) improve access to finance throughout the value chain; and (vi) enhance coordination, monitoring, and evaluation of sector progress. To achieve these objectives, the following targets have been set for 2030 (i) Double Paddy Production: Increase paddy production to 34 million metric tons; (ii) Expand Irrigated Areas: Increase rain-fed lowland areas with supplementary irrigation and double fully irrigated areas; (iii) Enhance Resilience: Develop eight climate-smart rice varieties that are tolerant to floods, drought, salinity, heat, pests, and diseases, along with two hybrid varieties; (iv) Certified Seed Usage: Ensure that 80% of rice farmers are using certified seeds, supported by strengthened seed system institutions; (v) Improve Mechanization: Ensure 50% of rice farmers have access to modern machinery, reducing harvest and post-harvest losses by 50%; (vi) Develop Mechanization Models: Create business models that cater to smallholder farmers, reducing the inappropriate use of mechanization; (vii) Enhance Rice Quality: Improve the quality of domestically milled rice to boost its market competitiveness; (viii) Cluster Millers: Organize 60% of small to medium-scale millers into clusters to upgrade machinery, equipment, and capacity building; (ix) Increase Financial Access: Boost access to finance for small and medium-scale millers by 50%, with training on food safety, grading, packaging, and branding; (x) Cluster Farmers and Processors: Cluster farmers and processors to enhance access to markets and financial services by 50%; (xi) Support Machinery Acquisition: Enable 40% of rice farmers and processors to access financing for machinery acquisition; (xii) Robust Monitoring and Evaluation: Design a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation framework to ensure the effective implementation of NRDS II and achieve its strategic goals.