By Kazeem Akolawole
In a bid to increase local rice production and attain national self-sufficiency, President Muhammadu Buhari has given the go-ahead for the large-scale Integrated Rice Mill.
The commissioning is in line with the federal government’s mandate to achieve food sufficiency, security, and income generation.
The President, who was represented by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Dr. Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar, stated that for the previous eight years, his administration had actively promoted and supported the country’s agricultural development through the Anchor Borrower’s Programme and the Grain Aggregation Centers, among other initiatives. Added that as part of the change agenda, aimed to diversify the economy away from oil and gas and toward agriculture, these programmes show the federal government’s commitment to tackling important infrastructure projects.
He said: “We have witnessed the rapid increase in domestic rice production from the incentives given to farmers and processors over the period as a resolution of leveraging our potentials, producing what we consume, and patronising locally made products.”
The president, while urging Nigerian farmers to use the existing incentives to invest in any part of the agricultural value chain and engage in agribusiness to increase food production in the country, noted that the nation’s paddy output per hectare has greatly grown to the point where it is sufficient for producing raw materials.
The Minister of State, federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mustapha Baba Shehuri, who highlighted the ten already approved integrated rice mills, said they acted as a catalyst for the prompt delivery of the remaining mills, which are situated in the states of Adamawa, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Niger, and Ogun soon to be commissioned.
