GRADING AND PACKAGING OF NIGERIAN RICE FOR EXPORT: ISSUES, CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

Abstract

sectors of the Nigerian economy. Some rice processing plants are springing up in many parts of the
country. These mills are processing not only for the Nigerian market but for exports. Reviewed in this
paper are the requirements to be met in processing rice not only for local consumption but for export.
The requirements include good source of raw material, proper processing and grading to standard and
adoption of best practices in packaging. The challenges in meeting these requirements were identified to
include: poor agronomic practices, poor handling or raw materials, lack of technology, poor investment,
poor branding, high cost of production, unfair competition by imported rice, poor value chain. The
current efforts being made to solve these problems through the value chain approach has great potentials
and prospects for producing export quality rice in Nigeria. The efforts of the Federal Ministry of
Agriculture through the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) should be sustained.