The Anambra State Government has unveiled a strategic partnership with a Chinese agricultural consortium aimed at transforming rice production in the state’s key farming hubs and raising productivity levels significantly, officials announced on Thursday.
The collaboration, which brings together experts from Chinese agribusiness firms and local authorities, was disclosed by Dr. Forster Ihejiofor, Anambra’s Commissioner for Agriculture, during an interview with journalists at the state Assembly complex in Awka after the 2026 agricultural budget defence.
Dr. Ihejiofor said the partnership is structured as a public-private initiative to enhance rice yields, particularly in Ayamelum Local Government Area, one of the state’s most productive rice-growing regions.
“The consortium will train farmers in the state to demonstrate how to improve the crop yield,” he explained. “In China, they have been able to achieve nine to ten tonnes per hectare, whereas in Anambra, we are hovering between three to four tonnes per hectare. So this consortium that is coming will be activating this relationship to train our farmers…”
According to the commissioner, the Chinese partners will introduce modern farming practices, technologies and methods that have helped increase output in other countries, knowledge that, officials say, could close the productivity gap in Anambra’s rice fields.
Ihejiofor also highlighted the state’s plans to strengthen irrigation infrastructure, noting that erratic rainfall patterns linked to climate change have increasingly affected planting seasons.
“We are working on irrigation infrastructure in multiple places in the state to make it possible for people to produce food year-round, and this will combat the irregular rainfall that we have due to the climate crisis,” he said, adding that new smart technologies would be deployed to help “nourish the plants and give them moisture.”
The commissioner noted that Governor Chukwuma Soludo has approved a ₦500 million budget allocation to support irrigation projects at Ifite-Ogwari and other farming axes, with expectations that three seasonal harvests could eventually be achieved annually through improved water management.
Beyond rice, Ihejiofor outlined other state government agricultural initiatives, including the distribution of 2.2 million oil palm and coconut seedlings to about 180,000 households across the state. Each household reportedly received 10 seedlings, which the commissioner said will yield economic benefits over decades.
“When you look at the economic potential of those seedlings, for every family that received the items, in approximately four to seven years, when they start producing … those families will be out of poverty for their generation,” Ihejiofor said.
He also revealed that in 2026, an additional minimum of 100,000 households will benefit from similar empowerment programmes under Governor Soludo’s agricultural agenda.
The commissioner recalled that in August 2025, the governor had launched the “Farm to Feed” programme to sensitise residents on boosting food production and curtailing rising food prices through local productivity efforts.
“A lot of local government areas latched onto that programme and built up the capacity of the farmers to boost agriculture,” he said, underlining that the China partnership is an extension of that broader policy direction.
