Niger State To Establish $200 Million
Rice Processing Factory
The
Government of Niger State, North Central Nigeria, is
collaborating with the Korean International Cooperation Agency
to establish a modern rice processing factory worth two hundred
million dollars at Bida.
The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Aminu Yusuf, said
in Minna, the State Capital, that all the necessary components
of the factory had arrived in the country and installation would
start in June.
Paddy Supply/Strategy
Alhaji Aminu said that to ensure regular and adequate supply of
paddy to the factory, the government had identified and carried
out studies on how to revitalise the various irrigation schemes
in the state.
He said that on its completion, the factory would provide direct
jobs to more than five thousand people and two thousand rice
farming families in the state.
The commissioner said that the government would ensure regular
supply of input to the rice farmers to boost production.
He also said that the Baddegi Rice Mill, which had remained idle
for the past sixteen years, had been resuscitated and
concessioned to a Nigerian company under a Public-Private
Partnership arrangement.
Capacity
The Managing Director, Deansheranger Project Limited, Mr Shehu
Dikko, said that efforts were on to add two additional milling
lines to raise the processing capacity from the current thirty
thousand tonnes to one hundred thousand tonnes annually before
the end of 2010.
NAN/Williams
