Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country with 124 million inhabitants in 1999 and has the potential to become Africa’s economic powerhouse. However, to achieve this potential role Nigeria still faces numerous challenges. To its merit, Nigeria now has taken a number of these challenges head on and is trying to establish itself both as a participatory democracy and a market-based economy on the world stage. It is in the interest of the international community to ensure Nigeria is successful in this venture. In this regard, equitable and sustainable economic development is a prerequisite. Equitable and sustainable economic development cannot ignore basic food commodities, particularly in developing countries such as Nigeria. Basic food commodities play an essential role in economic development as their availability and cost impinge directly on food security, expenditures and incomes of households, particularly amongst the poorer segments of population – both rural and urban. Of all the basic food commodities, rice is of particular importance. Rice has traditionally been an important basic food commodity for certain populations in Sub-Saharan Africa, and West Africa in particular. Recent important and major changes have led to a structural increase in rice consumption in the sub-region. Since 1973, regional demand has grown at an annual rate of 6%, driven by a combination of population growth and substitution away from traditional coarse grains. The consumption of traditional cereals, mainly sorghum and millet, has fallen by 12 kg per capita, and their share in cereals used as food decreased from 61% in the early 1970s to 49% in the early 90s. In contrast, the share of rice in cereals consumed has grown from 15% to 26% over the same period. Growth in regional rice consumption remains high. The FAO projects the annual growth rate will be 4.5% through the year 2000. This means that the total volume of rice consumed in West Africa is likely to increase by 70% over this decade. The demand for rice has been increasing at a much faster rate in Nigeria than in other West African countries since the mid 1970s (Table 1). For example, during the 1960’s Nigeria had the lowest per-capita annual consumption of rice in the sub-region (average of 3 kg). Since then, Nigerian per-capita consumption levels have grown significantly at 7.3% per annum. Consequently, per-capita consumption during the 1980’s averaged 18 kg and reached 22 kg in 1995-1999. Despite the catching up of per-capita consumption with respect to the rest of West Africa, Nigerian consumption levels still lag the rest of the sub-region (34 kg in 1995-1999). Consequently, above average growth rates in Nigerian per capita rice consumption are likely to continue for some time.

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