Nigeria overtakes Egypt as Africa’s largest rice producer

Nigeria has overtaken Egypt as the largest rice producer in Africa, producing 8 million metric tonnes out of the Africa average of 14.6 million metric tonnes of rice annually.

In times past, Egypt produces 4.3 million metric tonnes annually but suffered a decline of almost 40 percent in the last one year.

The rural village of Kanko, in Niger State has over 100 rice farmers who produce 15 tonnes of rice from 200 hectares of land a year alone.

It would be recalled that the Muhammadu Buhari administration has always maintained that its ‘rice revolution’ has made the nation attain food sufficiency, especially in rice production.