About 3,500 rice farmers across Nigeria are planning to abandon or reduce rice cultivation following massive losses estimated at N93 billion recorded during the 2025 wet farming season.
The revelation comes from a dry-season farmer intention survey conducted by the National Agribusiness Policy Mechanism (NAPM), a presidential policy committee. The survey covered 33,507 farmers across 13 pilot states and found that 10.6 per cent of rice farmers intend to scale back production in the 2025/2026 dry season.
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According to the 2025 Major Wet Season Impact Report released by the Presidential Food Systems Coordinating Unit, rice farmers lost an average of ₦20,220 per hectare due to falling paddy prices and rising production costs.
With Nigeria cultivating about 4.6 million hectares of rice, sector-wide losses were estimated at approximately ₦93 billion.
The report noted that rice production declined by 7.9 per cent during the wet season, as farmers increasingly shifted to export-oriented crops such as soybeans and sesame, which currently offer higher profit margins and lower input requirements.
Findings show that 23 per cent of rice farmers plan to switch to soybeans or sesame, citing declining rice prices caused largely by increased rice imports.
In contrast to rice, soybean production rose by 38 per cent in 2025, with farmers earning up to ₦419,675 per hectare, representing a 51 per cent gross margin.
The committee linked the rice farmers’ losses to policy decisions taken in July 2024, when the Federal Government approved duty-free rice imports to curb food inflation. About 2.4 million metric tonnes of rice were imported in 2025, contributing to price crashes in the local market.
NAPM observed that the import policy was implemented without a Guaranteed Minimum Price mechanism, leaving farmers exposed when market prices fell below production costs.
The report also highlighted structural challenges facing farmers, including a low extension agent-to-farmer ratio of 1:6,466, low fertiliser usage of 29.5kg per hectare, and rising input costs that forced many smallholders to reduce fertiliser application.
The committee warned that continued farmer exit from rice production could threaten national food security and recommended the immediate activation of a Guaranteed Minimum Price, closure of rice import windows, and targeted support for dry-season rice farmers to stabilise production.
The PUNCH
