By Wasilat Ahmad
As Nigeria intensifies effort toward increasing local rice production, different varieties of rice have been identified for farmers.
A research by institutes has led to discovery of different species of rice that can be grown in different parts of the country.
These species according to the Director Research, National Cereals Research Institute, Dr Umar Aliyu are suitable for different types of farm lands in the different parts of the country.
Presently, Nigeria has 67 different varieties of rice grown in different areas with improved output as a result of research carried out by the institute.
Speaking on various varieties of rice in the country, Aliyu said basically, rice grows in four different areas which include upland, low land, deep water as well as mangrove.
“The upland rice can grow alongside other crops and it will come out well while the low land rice is divided into rainfed low land and irrigated lowland.
“The deep water rice is the most common one we see all around in waterlog areas why mangrove rice is one that is grown in typo-ecological areas, ” Aliyu explained.
He said that different types of land can grow all the varieties of rice available in the country, adding that the discovery of the varieties was made possible as a result of research efforts by the institute working alongside other scientists from other research institutes to come up with the improved varieties.
Aliyu explained that the rice varieties have specific areas where they are grown based on the land type.
He said, “The upland rice is grown in southwest and southeast, low land rice is grown in northwest, northeast and north-central.
“Mangrove rice is grown in south-south while deep water rice is grown in north-west and south-east.”
Despite the improvement on the varieties of rice in the country, they are affected by diseases which according to Aliyu can be resisted by some species of rice.
Some of the diseases that affect rice in Nigeria are iron toxicity which reduces rice yield in the field.
Faro 52 or wita 4 are resistance to iron toxicity.
There is also what is called rice blast but with improved varieties, a lot of them are resistance to the disease.
Rice gallmigge is also known as onion shoot and rice stem ores which can be controlled with application of insecticide on the rice field to control pest and diseases.
There is also the challenge of nutrient deficiency symptoms and this has to do with fertility of soil.
When soil is not fertile, it affects the yield as rice turns yellowish in color instead of green while the field will turn purple especially when it lacks phosspherous.
Also the rice field sometime looks burnt when it lacks Sulphur.
The improved varieties according to Aliyu produce 4.5 to 6tons per hectare while the normal ones used by farmers produce only 1.5tons per hectare.
He added that they have been engaging a lot of farmers who now use their improved varieties in their farms, abandoning their own varieties.
