Badagry Farmers Dump Rice Farming Over Low Productivity

Mr Adebayo Ajibabi, Head of Department of Agriculture in Badagry local government, on Friday, said that rice farmers in the area had abandoned the farms due to low productivity.

Ajibabi told newsmen in Badagry on Friday, that the farmers, who embraced commercial rice farming in 2008, had since left the farms.

He said that the government introduced the commercial farming project in 2008 to boost rice production in the state.

“Lagos State Government acquired acres of farmland in Toga area of Badagry to boost rice farming,” he said.

Ajibabi said that he assisted the state government to recruit about 1,000 rice farmers during the period.

He said that the state government gave them rice, land and some other incentives to boost rice production, “but government did not keep to other promises made to the farmers”.

Ajibabi said that the farmers, who initially engaged in lowland rice farming, had since taken to other ventures like fishing.

It could be recalled that the Rice Millers Association of Nigeria had recently accused the Nigeria Customs Service of killing local rice production through its failure to check unbridled importation of the commodity.

The Customs Service has denied the accusation.