Agriculture in Rivers State is an important branch of the economy of Rivers State, Nigeria. It is the main source of livelihood for the

rural people In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...

. Agriculture creates

employment Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...

, provides income and helps curb out-migration. The industry in the state is overseen by the

Rivers State Ministry of Agriculture The Rivers State Ministry of Agriculture is a ministry of the Government of Rivers State charged with regulation and formulation of policies related to the agricultural sector of the state with aim to secure food, improve the economy of the rural ...

History

Prior to the Discovery of oil in commercial quantity in 1951, Agriculture was the Primary occupation of the people of Rivers State. Around 19th century when the industrial revolution reached its peak in England, the area was then referred to as Oil Rivers Protectorate, this was due to its abundant

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...

and kernel which basically constituted the main revenue source of the country. In a sample survey carried out by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, about 40% of the rural inhabitants were committed to farming in 1983.

Crops

Rivers State is one of the leading States in the production of

yam Yam or YAM may refer to: Plants and foods *Yam (vegetable), common name for members of ''Dioscorea'' * Taro, known in Malaysia and Singapore as yam * Sweet potato, specifically its orange-fleshed cultivars, often referred to as yams in North Amer ...

, cassava, cocoyam, maize, rice and beans. About 39% (760,000 hectares) of the state's total land mass, particularly in the upland area, is suitable for cultivation. Major cash crops produced are oil palm products, rubber,

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family ( Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the ...

, raffia palm and

jute Jute is a long, soft, shiny bast fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from flowering plants in the genus ''Corchorus'', which is in the mallow family Malvaceae. The primary source of the fiber is ''Corchorus olit ...

. Other crops grown for food include, vegetables, melon, pineapples,

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree ''Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South a ...

pepper Pepper or peppers may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant ** Black pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ** Bell pepper ** Chili ...

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

and plantain.

Fishing

The fishing industry is a thriving sector in Rivers State. Besides being lucrative, fishing is also a favorite pastime activity. There are approximately 270 species of fish existing; with many artisanal fishermen in the

riverine A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

areas. The state provides valuable

seafoods Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus and ...

such as

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...

s, oysters,

shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...

s and

sea snail Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...

s among others.

The Impact of LR's Adama Group in River State's Agriculture

The project’s diverse agricultural production activities will generate an improved, higher-value fresh and

Processed food Convenience food, also called tertiary processed food, is food that is commercially prepared (often through processing) to optimise ease of consumption. Such food is usually ready to eat without further preparation. It may also be easily por ...

supply, value chain development, market driven service, employment, and regional economic growth.

Songhai Rivers Initiative Farm

The Songhai Rivers Initiative Farm (SRIF) combines livestock,

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

and

agro-tourism Agritourism or agrotourism involves any agriculturally based operation or activity that brings visitors to a farm or ranch. Types A 2018 article published in the ''Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development'' classified a ...

. The centre serves as a place of excellence for training, production, research, demonstration as well as development of sustainable agricultural practices. SRIF was set up in partnership with Songhai International Centre Porto Novo. The project is located on a 314 hectare of farm land at Bunu in Tai local government area. There are different units through which the SRIF executes its functions. These units include: *Administrative and hospitality centre *Technology and industrial park *Production *Cow and goat ranch *Concrete fish ponds *Earthen pond *Fish hatchery *Artificial lake *Green house and maggottery. Other units are broilers production, cassava processing unit, feed mill,

rice mill A rice mill is a food-processing facility where paddy is processed to rice to be sold in the market. The entire product is procured from paddy fields, milled and processed hygienically in modern machinery and dust-free environment and cleaned t ...

, machines production, stabilised bricks production, free range poultry, plantain farm, pineapple, vegetable garden, cassava and

moringa Moringa may refer to: * ''Moringa'' (genus), a genus of plants * ''Moringa oleifera'', or just moringa, a plant species native to the Indian subcontinent * ''Moringa stenopetala'', a species in that genus commonly known as the African moringa Se ...

cultivation units. More units designed for future production at the centre include

animal feeds Animal feed is food given to domestic animals, especially livestock, in the course of animal husbandry. There are two basic types: fodder and forage. Used alone, the word ''feed'' more often refers to fodder. Animal feed is an important inpu ...

for chips and juice, orange for juice and input for animal processing and snail production. In recent times, the farm has been dormant and the Rivers State Government had to swing into action to woo investors to the farm. The Governor

Siminalayi Fubara Sir Amaopusenibo Siminalayi "Sim" Joseph Black- (born 28 January 1975), is the Governor of Rivers State, Nigeria. He previously served as Accountant general of the Rivers State, Nigeria. He is an ethnic Ibani-Ijaw, and was born in Opobo Town i ...

led administration promised to revive the farm to create food in the state and also provide employment opportunities for the Rivers people.

Revolution of agriculture

The Rivers State Government pledge to change and bring more development to agriculture sector in River State using the Songhai farm.

Project

On the 27th of June, there is proposed for the establishment of solar powered farm in the state, in other to increase and improve agriculture

growth Growth may refer to: Biology * Auxology, the study of all aspects of human physical growth * Bacterial growth * Cell growth * Growth hormone, a peptide hormone that stimulates growth * Human development (biology) * Plant growth * Secondary growth ...

and food production/security in River state.

References

{{Rivers State