Bayelsa aims for 300 tonnes of its own rice by the end of the year

Yenagoa — Bayelsa State wants to put 300 tonnes of locally grown and milled rice on residents' tables by the end of the year, Premium Times reports. The governor has asked the agriculture ministry to make it available over Christmas and the New Year.

The target was announced in Yenagoa on Friday by Beke Sese, commissioner for agriculture and natural resources, at the state's World Food Day event, held under the theme "Innovate Today, Nourish Tomorrow".

What is in place

• The government's rice mill is working and can handle 410 tonnes a day; its rice is going through laboratory tests for food and nutrition certification before it goes on sale.
• The state is growing rice on 106 hectares and buying paddy from farming communities so that farmers have a guaranteed market.
• More than 17,300 farmers have received direct support since 2020, and 2,106 farmers, fishers and processors received grants this year.

The state did not say how much rice has been produced so far.

"Government cannot do it alone"

Governor Douye Diri, represented by his deputy, Peter Akpe, urged young people to see farming as a career rather than a punishment and to use methods suited to Bayelsa's terrain, such as flood-tolerant varieties, soilless farming and modern fish farming. He listed rice mills installed with the Central Bank of Nigeria at Niger Delta University and the Federal University, Otuoke, the state's first dry-season farming programme at Otuasega Farm, and youth training with CSS Integrated Farms, and called for investment in processing, storage and cold chains to cut post-harvest losses. "Let me be frank: government cannot do it alone," he said.

The All Farmers Association of Nigeria presented Diri with an award for supporting farmers.

Source: Premium Times, reporting by Ekemini Simon, 17 October 2026.