The German International Cooperation (GIZ) backs the 10-year plan, which will be implemented from 2020 to 2030. It aims to guide the development of the rice subsector to achieve the government's goals of self-sufficiency in rice production, food and nutrition security, job creation, and surplus production for export.
During the launch in Abuja, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Baba Shehuri, explained that CARP, formerly known as the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP), is a platform dedicated to the productivity and sustainability of the rice industry to ensure the competitiveness of Nigerian rice and the sustainability of the Nigeria rice sector.
He recalled that all stakeholders adopted the NRDS document at the 44th National Council of Agriculture (NCA) with support from the Competitive Africa Rice Platform (CARP). He explained that CARP, a multi-stakeholder platform, was established to advocate policies and drive transformational changes in standard practices in the rice sector and that the CARP Board of Trustees (BoT) was inaugurated by the federal ministry and is domiciled in the ministry for effective coordination and operational management to achieve its lofty goal.
Shehuri stated that the NRDS-I was used to develop the Rice Transformation Agenda as part of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda and Agricultural Promotion Policy (APP) and that it served as a catalyst for the country's rice revolution to begin.
In his remarks, Ernest Umakihe, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, stated that the NRDS-I, which took place between 2009 and 2019, saw tremendous successes, such as an increase in areas under cultivation, an increase in the quantity of paddy available to mills, the proliferation of Integrated Rice Mills across the country, and a significant improvement in the quality/competitiveness of Nigerian milled rice.
Other achievements include the Federal Government's creation of an enabling business environment, which encouraged continuous investment in the rice industry, resulting in Nigeria being ranked as Africa's top rice producer.
According to him, the Competitive Africa Rice Platform (CARP)-Nigeria, formerly known as the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP), is a multi-stakeholder advocacy platform aimed at driving transformational changes in standard practices to promote the sustainable rice industry in Nigeria. According to the permanent secretary, the platform was established to ensure the competitiveness of homegrown rice and the sustainability of Nigeria's rice sector.
