…Import hits 10-year high
Nigeria’s farmers are abandoning rice for other, more profitable crops as global glut and higher imports squeeze their profits.
The global rice market glut is fuelled by an Asian market oversupply, which has forced its producers to seek new markets or consolidate existing ones in Africa.
The Asian glut, in combination with tariff removal by the Nigerian government, has driven rice imports into Nigeria to a 10-year high, thereby reducing farmers’ earnings.
Nigeria imported 60,735 metric tons of rice from Thailand in the first five months of 2025, according to data from the Thai Rice Exporters Association.
The figure represents the country’s highest rice imports from Thailand since 2016, forcing farmers to abandon the grain cultivation after recording heavy losses from competition with imported varieties.
The trend is a challenge to President Bola Tinubu’s plan to boost food production and drive food security.
“Lots of farmers growing rice are switching to millet, sorghum, sesame, and soybeans. This is because farmers are incurring huge losses in rice cultivation,” said Muhammad Augie, former state chairman, Rice Farmers Association, Kebbi chapter.
Augie noted that the global rice glut is hurting local paddy prices, saying the key staple consumed by most households cannot compete favourably owing to high production costs, which is forcing farmers to sell at a loss.
“There is a sharp fall in global rice prices owing to the glut in Asia. But it is getting costlier to cultivate rice locally and sell at a rate that is profitable,” he said, noting that millers are not willing to buy at a cost that is profitable for farmers.
Ibrahim Idris, a rice farmer in Yamaltu/Deba Local Government Area of Gombe, said growing rice is no longer profitable due to low demand and high input costs.
“I use three bags of NPK (fertiliser) and two bags of urea for a hectare of rice farmland. I need at least N160,000 for fertiliser alone in addition to other costs,” Idris explained.
“How do I make a profit with this high cost when a 100kg bag of paddy is sold for N40,000?” he asked.
According to him, millers are reluctant to pay more for paddy because they want to be competitive, noting that cheap foreign rice has flooded the market owing to the global glut.
“If you go to the market, you see foreign rice everywhere, and they are cheaper. The millers, too, want to make profits, so they do not want to buy paddy at higher prices,” he said.
He noted that some millers are even importing paddy from Asia to mill locally.
Haruna Mohamed, a rice farmer in Jigawa, said he has reduced his production hectarage from 12 to five owing to low demand and high production costs.
“Prices of all farm inputs have doubled within a year, but for some crops, you will still be profitable because of their high demand,” he said.
“This is not the case with rice because the prices of paddy have decreased drastically, and it is no longer profitable to cultivate it,” he explained.
“It pays me to grow sesame and sorghum rather than rice because the demand for these products is high and their prices are attractive,” he noted.
Globally, rice prices have tumbled to multi-year lows and are likely to fall further with a bumper Asian harvest and bulging Indian stockpiles.
While these prospective lower prices benefit Nigerian consumers, they are squeezing the meagre earnings of smallholder farmers in the country.
Global rice output is expected to reach a record 543.6 million metric tons in 2024/25, up from 535.4 million tons the previous year, according to estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
The total global supply, including stocks, is at 743 million tons, above demand, which is expected to rise to 539.4 million tons, according to the FAO estimates.
The low price and glut in the global rice market are incentives for traders to import the grain in large volumes, Africanfarmer Mogaji, an agribusiness consultant and farmer, said in a response to questions.
According to him, the market is flooded with imported rice that is cheaper than locally produced varieties. “Most of our locally produced goods cannot compete with imported produce,” he said, noting that it costs an average manufacturer more to produce than their counterparts.
He stated that both rice millers and farmers are currently being squeezed by the cheap imports.
Lower rice production
Data from a 2024 report by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Nigeria’s rice production showed that the country’s rice production declined by 6.7 percent in the 2024/2025 season to 5.23 million metric tons (MT) from 5.61 million MT in the 2023/2024 season.
The data from the report indicated that the figure is the lowest the country has recorded since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic obstructed farming activities. (BusinessDay)
