VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS OF THE RICE INDUSTRY IN NASARAWA STATE, NIGERIA

Rice value chain involves long chain of intermediaries between the producers and consumers. These intermediaries function in environments constrained by many problems thereby making the Nigerian rice industry uncompetitive. Hence, the study analyzes the value chain of rice industry. The study was conducted in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. The population for the study comprised of stakeholders involved in adding values to the rice industry. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to obtain data from a total of 153 respondents who are rice farmers, wholesaler, retailers and processors. Four sets of questionnaires were used in collecting the primary data from the different groups of stakeholders. Descriptive statistics and budgetary analysis were used in analyzing the data. It was observed that about 63% of the processors were women. The main producerwere the farmers who process the paddy and sell directly to marketers, consumers or processors. Results of profitability analysis show variations in marketing margins among the stakeholders with the highest obtained by retailers followed by the processors while the farmers’ marketing margin was the lowest. In conclusion, the riceretailing and processing were found to be very profitable. Therefore, the study recommends that in order to increase the profit margin of farmers, they should be given loans and inputs should be well subsidized by the government and other non-government organizations.