TheCable

The federal government says the 200 metric tonnes per day capacity rice mill situated in Suleja, Niger state, will be inaugurated soon.

In a report by NAN on Thursday, Abubakar Kyari, minister of agriculture and food security, spoke about the inauguration when he led directors in the ministry and Alwan Hassan, managing director of the Bank of Agriculture, on a tour to the Mabeli Rice Mill in Suleja.

Kyari said the rice mill is a public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement with two of its kinds situated in Suleja and Gwagwalada, Abuja — while the other eight are spread across the country.

The minister said when completed, the project would go a long way to enhance local production as well as attract investors to come into the country.

“In the eight-point agenda of President Bola Tinubu, number one is food security and this project is one of them,” Kyari said.

“What we always stress is not only on production but also processing.

“In the past, we always relied on imported foods but what we have seen today is rice fully grown in Nigeria and processed in Nigeria and can stand with other imported rice.

“We are very happy we have our mill production and cultivation of what is being harvested.

“We will try to complete and commission this one and the others and we will also look at it in such a way that it will not only be for rice production but also staple foods.

“This is to enhance food processing because food quality and food security are important and key to this administration.”

He said production was key to the sustainability of the project and work would be done to enhance production in the mill.

Kyari, therefore, encouraged rice farmers to make themselves ready as they would be contacted to double their efforts on rice cultivation, especially in the dry season.

On his part, Hassan said the project was not completed because of the challenges of foreign exchange to pay for the balance of the project.

Jamu Dan’agundi, managing director, MV Agro Engineers Nigeria Limited, said the rice mill has a double capacity compared to the other mills across the country.

Dan’agundi also explained that the mill — with four sessions such as the intake, per boiling, milling, and packaging sessions — was put in place to enhance the nutritional value of rice.

Proceeding to the Nigerian Agricultural Technology Demonstration Centre in Bwari, the minister expressed satisfaction at the level of work in the centre, saying it would advance seed production and extension service for farmers.

“We have seen the kind of advancement they have done especially in seed production,” Kyari said.

“We are impressed with the Gawal R1 rice that can produce up to eight tonnes per hectare so this is a very good development.

“This is what the President has directed that we must produce as much rice in this dry season.”

He said the demonstration equipment would be handy for smallholder farmers.