Farmers in the Hadejia-Jama\u2019are River Basin Development Authority can produce 3.6m tonnes of rice every year, Managing Director of the authority, Mr Ma\u2019amun Da\u2019u Aliyu, has reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that the basin covers over 300,000 hectares of irrigation farmland under its control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that the rice t be produced would meet 66.7 per cent of Nigeria\u2019s yearly rice demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The mandate of the authority included the development of land, and utilisation of underground and surface water for irrigation activities, erosion control, construction of dams and supply of drinking water to the environments within its catchment areas of Kano, Bauchi and Jigawa States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201dAt an average of six tonnes per hectare, when you talk of 306,000 hectares, you will be arriving at probably 1.8 million tonnes of rice per season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd you know the annual requirements of rice production in Nigeria is about 6.4 million tonnes, so when you are able to produce 1.8 million tonnes of rice per season, when you multiply by two seasons you will get 3.6 million tonnes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd that is adequately half of Nigeria\u2019s rice requirement, precisely 66.7 per cent of the Nigeria\u2019s rice production coming from this river basin,\u201d the managing director said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aliyu expressed the authority\u2019s commitment to providing suitable land for mass irrigation towards achieving national food security if given the necessary financial support and the stakeholders\u2019 cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n