THE Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in Nigeria, Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar, stated that Nigeria has become the largest producer of rice and sorghum in Africa.
A day later, the Senate Committee on Agriculture said about two million metric tonnes of rice are imported or smuggled into Nigeria.
This, in addition to the rising cost of rice in the country, necessitated a verification of the minister’s claims.
THE CLAIMS
- Nigeria is Africa’s largest producer of rice.
- Nigeria is Africa’s largest producer of sorghum.
THE FINDINGS
CLAIM 1
Findings by the FactCheckHub show that Nigeria is the largest producer of rice in Africa.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) gave the 2020 -2021 rice production of Nigeria as 4.89 million metric tonnes while Egypt comes second at 4 million. This was also contained in the November 2021 circular on world agricultural production.
CLAIM 2
Findings by the FactCheckHub show that Nigeria is the largest producer of sorghum in Africa.
The USDA gave the 2020 -2021 sorghum production of Nigeria as 6.57  million metric tonnes while Sudan comes second at 5.15 million. This was also contained in the November 2021 circular on world agricultural production.
THE VERDICT
The claims that Nigeria is Africa’s largest producer of rice and sorghum are TRUE.
