Agricultural Transformation Agenda On Rice Mill

Nigeria’s agricultural transformation agenda is set for a major boost with the coming on stream of Quarra Rice Mill, one of the country’s largest rice processing mills, to meet the rapidly growing domestic rice demand. The mill, which has an annual capacity of 30,000 tons of paddy rice, is operated by Quarra Rice Limited, which expects to process 150,000 tons per year by 2018.Located in Tsaragi, Kwara State, within a 100-kilometre radius of Nigeria’s most fertile rice growing territory, the mill’s output of parboiled rice and rice flour will be sold domestically to help alleviate food security concerns and substitute for expensive imports.The United States Department of Agriculture estimated level of import of rice in Nigeria is 2.7 million tons of rice per annum. Nigeria produces 2.85 tons of milled rice and 4.524 million tons of paddy rice per year.

Quarra Rice Limited’s target output quantity accounts for around 3.6 percent of the nation’s yearly rice imports as it is uniquely positioned to drive higher productivity and serve as an example of commercially successful yet sustainable agricultural investment in Nigeria. Abdulfatah Ahmed, Kwara State governor, at the commissioning of the mill on Thursday, said it was alarming that Nigeria continued to spend about $2 billion annually on importation of roughly 2 million metric tons of rice, wasting scarce foreign exchange and stunting growth of local agriculture, while accelerating the growth of foreign economies.

He noted that the Quarra rice mill would contribute towards meeting local demand for rice in the country and further deepen the depth of commercial agriculture. “While the Federal Government is doing a lot to grow commercial agriculture in Nigeria, more still needs to be done to local agribusinesses such as Quarra rice to boost food security,” he said, adding that structured and carefully planned agricultural reforms are very critical. While noting that the bane of agricultural development in the country is the complete disconnect between the farmers and utilisers of agriculture produce, the governor said that only through structured commercial farming can the country adequately feed the people and guarantee their economic prosperity.

According to Adewunmi Adesina, minister of agriculture and rural development, at the event, 9 million metric tons of food was added in 2012/2013 to the nation’s domestic food supply, which is 80 percent higher than the annual target of 5 million metric tons that had been set.“Food imports declined by N857 billion by the end of 2012; for example, the nation’s import bill for wheat, rice and sugar was down by $3 billion in 2012. Agric exports expanded by 822,000 metric tons in 2012, as the sector’s contribution to non-oil exports expanded by N759 billion,” said Adesina, who was represented by Ike Azogu, executive director of National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization. Source: http://businessdayonline.com