FG expands capacity of rice amills

The Federal Government has expanded the capacities of three rice mills in the country to 90,000 tonnes each to facilitate processing of rice and ensure its competitiveness.The rice mills are located in Ebonyi, Niger and Kebbi states.The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, disclosed this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Wednesday.Adesina said that the Federal Government would also accelerate rehabilitation work on the mills to enable them attain full capacity utilisation by February 2012.Rehabilitation of the mills, Adesina said, would be part of the governments Agricultural Transformation Action Plan to ban rice importation and make the country self-sufficient in its production by 2015.According to the minister, the gesture is also aimed at attaining food security; improving the living conditions of local farmers and generating more employment.Adesina said that by April 2012, 14 additional rice mills with a total capacity of 440,000 tonnes would be established under Public-Private Partnership concession programme.He said stakeholders in the sector had come to the conclusion that the PPP arrangement should be the driving force for agriculture to regain its status as the number one economic driver in the country. The minister said, If you look at other countries in the world, the private sector had always been in the driving seat in the development of agriculture.All the government does is to facilitate and create the enabling environment, where banks will support private sector (practitioners) in agriculture and where markets will be opened and value added processes put in place.To ensure all year round production and supply of paddy rice to the mills, the minister said government would provide support for 450,000 farmers in 2012.According to him, the farmers will be provided with all the needed inputs and irrigation facilities to boost all season rice farming.To attain the objectives of the governments agriculture transformation agenda, Adesina said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development would revive the moribund 40,000-tonne rice mill located in Omohu, in Anambra State.
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