The Federal Government says the planned establishment of 14 rice mills in the country will attract N250bn worth of investments to the sector, as well as create job opportunities for youths. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh stated this recently at the AgroNigeria High-level Rice Conference in Abuja. He explained that the move would attract hundreds of billions of naira to Nigeria’s rice value chain.
“There are presently 21 large integrated rice mills with a total processing capacity of 1.22 million metric tonnes yearly and spreading across the country, from Kano, Enugu, Ebonyi, Kebbi, Anambra, Edo, Nasarawa, Benue, Kwara, Jigawa, Niger and Kogi states. The challenge associated with local rice, which has discouraged consumers, especially when compared to imported rice, has been overcome.
“Today, several integrated local rice mills have their milled rice in the Nigerian market and consumer demand and preference for local rice has risen due to better quality and taste compared to imported rice. Home-grown international grade rice can be found across Nigerian markets and a total of 14 mills will soon come on board.”
In March, Thailand announced its plans to establish rice mills in the country following apparent reduction in rice import from the country. The 90 per cent reduction in importation of rice from the country followed a new policy introduced by the government.
