Ekiti Farmers Abandon Rice

Orun-IgbemoAbu Ibrahim’s rice rotted under the ground twice.

Neighbours who skipped planting show a system quitting after two failed seasons.

No crop insurance exists here, so a third loss is a bet most smallholders in Nigeria cannot rationally make.

Ekiti’s government says it will scale its farmer insurance scheme to 10,000 people in 2026.

How each outlet framed it

Premium Times Nigeria: attributes 2023-25 crop failures to climate volatility—dry spells then torrential rains—disrupting upland Ofada rice cultivation