EBONYI Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Echiegu, said recently that rice production in the state was still below 1.7 tonnes per hectare.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Echiegu made this observation in Abakaliki at the USAID Markets Rice

Programme Review meeting.

He said that rice production and processing in the state was not competitive and as a result, production of the Abakaliki rice had "decreased drastically."

He said the rice industry was unattractive to farmers due to the low profit margin.

"Youths moved into high risk commercial motorcycle business. The leading position of the state in the rice industry dropped beyond imagination and the pride of South East in Abakaliki rice vanished," Echiegu said.

The commissioner blamed the misery of rice farmers on policy inconsistency, which, he said, allowed massive rice importation.

However, he said that the coming of the USAID Markets project had given a ray of hope through a new model in rice value chain.

"The model is a paradigm shift from the usual supply and subsistence to a business and demand-driven approach," the commissioner noted.

He said that the government would embark on capacity building for Agricultural Development Programme workers in commodity value chain development.

This, he said, would enable them to face the production and business dynamics of agriculture.

Earlier, Mr. Niels Hanssens of

USAID Markets said that farmers would be linked to input dealers to enable them have access to improved seedlings and other agricultural products.

Hanssens also said that farmers would be given the necessary technical support that would boost agricultural business.

NAN reports that many of the farmers who spoke called for the supply of agro-chemicals to check pest attack.