Embargo on Foreign Rice Importation and its Implications on Quality Improvement of Local Rice in Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study analyzed the embargo on foreign rice importation and its implications on the quality improvement of local rice. I examined the likelihood for local rice quality to improve following land border closure on imported rice, assessed the level of rice quality improvement, and examined dimensions of which local rice quality has improved in Cross River State.

The study was conducted in Calabar, Cross River State and the study population was rice producers from three Rice Associations and stratified random sampling was used to draw a sample size of the 365 producers. It utilized a survey research design that was guided by import substitution industrialization theory. Questionnaire and in-depth interview (IDI) were used in collecting data; qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis, while quantitative data were analyzed using frequency, simple percentages, and incidence pattern analysis. An embargo on foreign rice importation has helped to improve the quality of local rice, following Government interventions in the area of skills development for producers, as well as deploying new rice production technologies. Again, the rice quality improvement level was moderate (75%), showing that recent local rice quality was not inferior like the same local rice in the past years before the border closure policy. More so, the use of certified seeds and seedlings of improved rice varieties during cultivation, the use of modern processing techniques and equipment, has helped to improve the local rice quality in the area of good taste, stone, reduction, dirt particles and odor freeness. The Government should further intervene by establishing rice processing outfits in some rice-producing communities that lack processing equipment so as to further improve the quality of local rice.