Growth trend of rice demand and supply in Nigeria: an investment opportunity for youth and women empowerment

This study was carried out to determine the instantaneous and compound growth rates of rice demand and supply in Nigeria over the period of 1970 to 2011 and its implication for empowering youths and women. Time series data on the aggregate rice demand and supply obtained from the database of United State Department for Agriculture (USDA) foreign agricultural service were utilized in this study. A growth rate model was employed to analyse the time series data and the result of the analysis showed that the instantaneous and compound growth rates (7.5% and 7.8%) of rice demand were higher than that of rice supply (6.5% and 6.7%) and this indicates that the incidence of demand-supply gap for rice in Nigeria has been an existing trend over the years and the trend would continue if appropriate measures are not taken despite the country's huge potential for rice production to attain self-sufficiency. The implication of this finding is that the untapped potential of Nigeria for rice production should be exploited for the empowerment of youths in the area of rice production and women in the area of rice processing.