Emergent rice farm model

An replicable model of a startup rice farm

In this article, we highlight key learning from an emerging commercial rice farm in Benue, Nigeria.

Project summary

Area: 60ha | Location: Luma, Benue, Nigeria

4 success factors

• Water: Surface irrigation with earth canals
• Soil: flood plain of the Benue river, benefiting from nutrients from seasonal flooding (but also a water control risk)
• Skill: Vietnamese Rice Expert as Project Leader
• Seed: Faro 44

We provide more details on each of these factors below.

Water

The overall objective is to control water levels during the growth period of the rice. There are many factors affecting irrigation design and construction such as agronomy, natural conditions of the site.

Gravity surface irrigation is used where possible. The project uses existing streams as drainage and construct separate water supply canals and internal field canals.

Water is supplied to the field through a system of main canals surrounding the land. Smaller canals and gates will let water into the partitioned fields.

Soil/Nutrient management

As the soil is high in clay it is suitable for earth canals. The project will only need to reinforce the canals in certain places which are not able to hold water. This is how the project controls irrigation costs in the initial period. As the project expands the operation there might be a need for more permanent structures in place.

Skills

The project leader is an agronomist from Vietnam who had experience managing agronomy for Nigeria's largest rice project - Olam Rice Farm in Nasarawa Nigeria. There is a team of technicians, both Vietnamese and Nigerian to assist on the day to day operations of the farm. 

Security is an important factor too (see guards in photos) as some areas in Northern Nigeria have experienced disruptions such as clashes between farmers and herders (yes this has happened over thousands of years and still flared up from time to time in West Africa)

Seed variety

• Pests and disease
• Adverse temperature (too hot or too cold)
• Acidic or saline soil
• Climate change such as droughts, floods
• All these varieties are short maturing and high-yielding as the focus in Vietnam is high production output

However, apart from agronomic properties, a seed variety needs to satisfy consumer preference (high amylose content, long grained in Nigeria).

This project uses Faro 44 and for the first season, the average yield is around 4MT/ha.

A rice farming business model for Africa:

• Large mechanised, irrigated farms acting a hub of agronomic expertise, quality inputs, irrigation infrastructure, processing facility and connection to market
• Contract farming communities surrounding a large project, benefiting from the services provided by the hub, farming under the technical guidance and selling produce to the hub
• Emerging farmers: Smaller commercial farms of up to 500ha, naturally endowed for rice farming (e.g. flat land next to a water source) that are owned and operated by local entrepreneurs and can be replicated across different locations