The Senate Committee on Agriculture on Wednesday in Abuja said about two million metric tons of rice is currently being imported or smuggled into the country.
The Committee also revealed that the production of milled rice in Nigeria was estimated to amount to five million metric tons.
This was disclosed on Wednesday by the Vice Chairman of the Committee, Senator Muhammad Enagi, at the meeting with the multi-stakeholder group on rice council advocacy bill promotion, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
The forum was organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) – Global Environment Facility (GEF), in collaboration with Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN), among others.
Enagi revealed that Nigeria’s rice production rose from 3.7 million metric tons in 2017 to 5.0 metric tons in 2021.
”In Spite of this, 6.7 million metric tons of rice is consumed in Nigeria annually, resulting in a deficit of about two million metric tons which is either imported or smuggled illegally into the country,” he said.