FG to construct 10 large-scale integrated rice mills, says minister

The federal government says it has released funds for the construction of 10 large-scale integrated rice mills with 320 metric tonnes capacity per day.

Mohammad Abubakar, minister of agriculture and natural resources, disclosed this at the fifth edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration scorecard 2015-2017 series in Abuja on Monday.

Presenting the ministry’s achievements, Abubakar said the construction of the ten large-scale rice mills was part of the resolve of the administration for the country not only to be self-sufficient in the staple but for export.

He said the location of the mills were Jigawa, Kano, Adamawa, Niger, Kaduna, Gombe, Ekiti, Ogun, Bayelsa and FCT.

Abubakar also disclosed that the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative established in 2016 had led to the increase of fertiliser blending plants in the country from eight to 200.

He added that the annual fertiliser production rose from 300 metric tonnes per annum to over 7 million metric tonnes.

The minister added that the ministry constructed and handed over agribusiness incubation centres for training students in various agricultural value chains.

According to the minister, the beneficiary institutions include the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua University in Katsina State and the University of Ibadan in Oyo State.

Others are the University of Maiduguri, Borno, Niger Delta University, Bayelsa and University of Abuja (FCT), while the project is ongoing in the Federal Universities of Lokoja, Kogi.

“The ministry also distributed 14,785 agricultural equipment, materials and tools, groundnut processing machines, cashew processing machines, oil palm processing mills with components,” the minister said.

“We also distributed tractors, combine harvester tricycles for farmers, colour sorters and 2000 knapsack sprayers to farmers nationwide.”

Abubakar further said there had been a paradigm shift in the agriculture space because of Buhari’s vision to redirect the economic trajectory of the country.