Ifere Paul|25 June 2016|8:02am
I know I don't have memory loss. I remember HE Governor Ayade telling Cross Riverians that the rice city at the Goodluck Jonathan Bypass will be used to grow its own seedlings. That is, they will have nursery to grow rice for commercial quantity.
They went on to say that the rice city will have a genetic biotechnology institute that will produce genetically modified but sweetened rice.
There was so many things promised about the rice city. But surprisingly, in this picture, Arc Eric Akpo is postulating that Governor Ben Ayade is in Bangkok to order for the shipment of nursery rice that can be folded in mats before shipping to Nigeria.
First, there are no rice farms in the whole of Bangkok. Anyone who has been to Bangkok can testify. Perhaps, Ayade knows the suburbs of Bangkok better.
My second argument is that of soil type. The production of rice is in chains and each connected with the other accordingly. Nigeria and Thailand has different soil types. The nursery in Thailand may not survive after transporting and transplanting to Nigeria, especially that we are flying "nursery rice" from Bangkok of all places.
My last argument is that of time. According Mr Itafor who is my agricultural science teacher in my village school, transplanting rice requires minimum of 5 hours from the point of uprooting to permanent ground. Mr Itafor happens to have been lecturer in School of Agriculture in Ovonom then. He is now a rice farmer and a consultant to Songhai Farms in Itigidi.
Surprising is the fact that Ben Ayade will be travelling with "our nursery rice" for 13 hours direct nonstop flight. But that's not possible. There's a two hours refueling stopover for such long flights. That gives "our matted nursery rice" about 15 hours to hit Lagos or Abuja. Transportation from Lagos/Abuja to Calabar might just be another tug of war.
So in the end, "our green nursery rice" will arrive Calabar dead, weaker, or even decaying.
It is a ridiculous idea to want to import nursery rice to Nigeria from any part of Thailand. What happens with all the hype about creating the biggest rice nursery in Africa in the rice city in Calabar? Is this how to be a major exporter of rice? Perhaps HE was talking just the opposite. He meant "importing nursery rice" maybe.
This is a stupid idea for our food sufficiency and security.
Ifere Paul
Is a Public Policy Analyst
