Local rice production in Nigeria has now reached 15 million metric tonnes annually, the government has claimed...
It said the development means the
country will now be saving about N300 billion it used to spend annually
on importation of the commodity.
The Director of Agriculture at the Kano
office of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Muhammad Adamu, made the
claim yesterday while inaugurating the Rice Millers Association of
Nigeria, (RIMAN) in the state.
He said in Kano alone, 1.2 million metric tonnes of rice was produced in 2016.
He said with the significant increase in local productions and the
efforts to make the local variety qualitative and more attractive to
Nigerians, the country expects to begin exporting rice to West African
countries by 2018/2019.
Adamu, according to Premium Times, said
about 34 states in Nigeria are producing rice, with many now producing
three times in a year.
He disclosed that investigation carried
out by the federal government revealed that rice imported to Nigeria are
10-15 years old and are preserved with chemicals which can cause cancer
to consumers.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the
Board of Directors of Rice Miller’s Association, Peter Dama, said, the
association was established to promote local milling of rice that is
fresh, healthy and nutritious.
He said the association is willing to
collaborate with the Nigeria Customs Service to stem smuggling of
expired rice into Nigeria.
Dama added that the association intended
to work closely with regulatory agencies and policymakers to ensure
standard in local rice milling.
The customs officer in charge of rice
enforcement, Ado Hassan, warned that officers caught conniving with rice
smugglers would have themselves to blame.
He said in less than one year, the zonal command of the agency confiscated 800,000 bags of rice in Kano and Jigawa States.
He said about 9,000 bags of the rice are
still in the stores of the agency, adding that most of the rice were
being given to internally displaced persons after been certified fit for
consumption by the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration
and Control (NAFDAC).
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