Rice is one of the most important food commodities in West Africa. Studies conducted in Nigeria revealed that rice constitutes over 20% of total food expenditure among urban and rural households. The demand for rice has grown significantly over the last 40 years due to changing consumer dietary patterns and population growth. According to data from USDA (2016), the annual rice demand in Nigeria was estimated at 5 million MT. However, only an estimated 2.7 million MT of head of rice was produced locally, leading to a demand-supply deficit of 2.3 million MT that was filled by imports from countries including Thailand and India.

Nigeria is the largest producer of rice in West Africa and produced about 4.3 million MT of paddy rice in 2016. The average yield in the country is 1.8 MT per hectare, which is significantly lower than best practice yields of 9.2 MT per hectare generated in Egypt. The crop grows well across Nigeria. the main areas of cultivation are the middle belt and norther states of Kebbi , Benue, Kaduna, Niger, and Taraba, as well as the southeastern states of Enugu, Imo, Cross River, and Ebonyi. Smallholder farmers, who use poor agronomic practices, dominate paddy rice production in Nigeria. Rice can be grown all year round in Nigeria, with the use of irrigation, which is an increasingly popular practice in the north. It requires wet conditions to grow, so it is planted during the rainy season in the absence of irrigation. Yields depend on the ecological zone that the rice is planted in as well as the production system. Studies have shown that about 77% of the farmed  area of rice in Nigeria is rain-fed, of which 47% is lowland and 30% is