An agriculture expert and Executive Director of the Foundation for Sustainable Smallholder Solutions, FSSS, Isaiah Gabriel, has explained that poor access to high-quality rice varieties is a major reason Nigerian rice struggles to compete in the global market.

Gabriel disclosed this in an interview with journalists on Thursday in Abuja.

According to him, the country needs a seed varieties enhancement project designed to support farmers with data-driven decisions that can improve productivity and yields.

He noted that many Nigerian farmers lack access to the right seed varieties suited to their specific agro-ecological zones, limiting both output and quality.

“The reason our local rice is not globally competitive is that we do not have good varieties of rice,” Gabriel said.

“This project will enable us to access various rice varieties across different agro-ecologies and identify the best options so farmers can get the right seeds to improve their productivity.”

The seed varieties enhancement project, he explained, is focused on generating and sharing reliable data with farmers, breeders, and other actors across the agricultural value chain to support informed decision-making.

“We want to push data out so that farmers can make informed decisions to improve productivity,” he added.