Rice in Africa Survey

We can argue that Rice is the most popular edible in Africa. Cuisine across various cultures still revolves around preparing Rice in different shades. Notably, Africa has become more invested in producing its own Rice in recent years. Although there are still massive imports, the continent is transitioning into a phase of self-sufficiency in rice production and consumption.

The Rice in Africa survey focuses on understanding the possibilities and limitations of rice farming, processing and sale within the African ecosystem. We collected data regarding the profile of farmers, the existing conditions of rice farms, the environmental status of prospective rice farms and the challenges facing the rice production industry, and other intricacies.

Project Goals

• Collect data on the existing conditions of rice factories
• Identify the active rice markets
• Highlight the proximity of rice farms to rice markets
• Cumulate data of rice farmers
• Map all disaster risk zones that can impact rice farming and production

The survey will pilot the data acquisition model in Jigawa state, Nigeria. As a rice-producing state, data from Jigawa state will provide insights into the nature of problems hindering the full production capacity of rice production in Nigeria.

Technology Facilitation

Milsat technologies will deploy native applications specifically for acquiring and managing the project data.

• Enumeration Pad: is a mobile application specifically developed to acquire African data. The application design is optimized for data collection across Africa’s various regions and countries.
• Enumeration Dashboard: This data management and visualization platform operate in real-time synchrony with the Enumeration Pad. The dashboard will allow the project managers to access and validate data in real time from the base. The statistical and geospatial view gives relational and maps insights into the acquired data—eliminating any form of discrepancy.
• Enumerators Network: A group of trained data collectors will also be deployed to acquire field data.

Project Data Categories

Rice Farms: This data category is the most crucial in the survey. It assumes a holistic approach to characterizing all elements relating to the rice farm and the farmer. The crux of the interest data is divided into nine(9) parts.

1. Farmers Bio-data: The data will profile the farmers by collating their names, farm ownership status and length of activeness in the rice farming industry.
2. Cultivated land: Each farmer employs unique methods in growing Rice. The Enumerators will collect data regarding planting methods, irrigation models, and the fertilizer type. The data is fundamental to understanding the best practices and fertilizers for rice farming across distinctive terrains.
3. Agro-Finance: Finance is the principal driver of Africa’s rice farming and production level. The Agro-finance data will focus on documenting data on the average seasonal budget of farmers, the sources of financing available, the government intervention models and their participation in these intervention programs. We will also collect insurance policy data to understand the types and varieties of insurance available to rice farmers in Jigawa state and Nigeria at large.
4. Risk and Disaster: Environmental impact on rice production levels cannot be undervalued. Enumerators will acquire data regarding flood occurrences and the other risks associated with each farm.
5. Yield Capacity: In this form, data regarding the yield storage of each farm is of interest. Also, the sales turnover and the methods of estimating their expected yield will be collected from farmers.
6. Marketing: This data is vital to understanding the market readiness for local rice production. Enumerators will acquire data regarding the available markets and their mode of product exchange.
7. Taxes and Levies: All expected levies will be documented in this form. The tax remittance culture of farmers will also be noted in this section.
8. Farming Inputs: Data on available machinery on the farm will be acquired in this section. Notably, a part of the section will seek information on the ownership of these machines.
9. Rice processing: The form section constitutes data about the distance to all mills within the LGA, the local milling outlets and the proximity to the nearest rice mill.

Processing mills: The processing mills are very crucial in the production chain of Rice. Here, we profiled rice processing mills to highlight the active mills and give insights on developing processing mills and the extent of workforce required to attain optimal production. The data acquired in this category will include the production capacity of mills, their level of functionality, their proximity to rice farms and the ease of hauling to the market.
Market Survey: In this category, Enumerators collected data regarding taxation of marketers and sellers, the market preferred rice type(locally produced or imported), the estimated daily sales and more. This category aims to analyze the nature of the market, understand the pricing and demand, and correlate it with the readiness of these markets for large-scale rice production.

Survey Deliverables

1. Maps identifying active rice farms in the different local government areas of Jigawa state.
2. A comprehensive data register of all farmers in the state. This register will include information about farmers, their farm size and conditions, and the distance of their farms to the nearest rice mill.
3. Maps showing disaster risk areas across the localities of Jigawa state.