Springfield Agro partners RiceCo to boost local rice production

Sprinfield Agro, a subsidiary of Kewalram Chanrai Group, and RiceCo, a global giant in rice production have partnered to boost local rice production in Nigeria.

The partnership is expected to improve farm yields of rice farmers by providing them with best solutions from seedlings to chemical solutions.

“This partnership will provide complete solutions to rice farmers in Nigeria from seeds to chemical solutions,” said Pinky Ghosh, international operation director, RiceCo.

“We will also focus on providing products to improve crop yields for farmers in Nigeria,” she said.

Data from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development show that Africa’s biggest economy consumes about five million metric tonnes of rice annually. But local production, which has seen significant increase in the past few years, is yet to meet domestic demand. This partnership will boost local production of rice in the country and reduce the supply and demand gap in rice production.

The federal government is focused on diversifying the economy away from oil through agriculture and other key sectors of the economy. The government is focused in ensuring that Nigeria becomes self sufficient in rice production.

Martin Poveda, RiceCo director, said that the partnership between RiceCo and Springfield Agro came at the right time because the government is really focused on agriculture and rice in particular.

“The gap in Nigeria’s agriculture is not because farmers don’t know what to do but because they don’t have the knowledge,” Poveda said.

According to both firms, the partnership will address some of the challenges rice farmers face, which will in turn improve the livelihoods of farmers by providing solutions to these problems.

“We will be in the field with farmers so that we understand what is happening in the farms. This will enable us to provide farmers with best solutions and will help us increase farmers’ farm yields and boost their income,” said Sunil Mohta, general manager, Springfield.

Speaking about the involvement of Springfield in Nigeria’s agricultural sector, Victor Eburajolo, group managing director, Springfield Agro, said, “We have been heavily involved in agriculture in Nigeria. At one time we had 12 thousand extension farmers in the North farming cotton for us.”

Josephine Okojie