India urges FG to sustain policies on boosting local rice production

The Republic of India has called on the Federal Government to sustain its policies on boosting local production of rice.

The Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Abhay Thakur, made the call in Abuja when the Managing Director of Tiamin Rice Mill Ltd. Aminu Ahmed, led the management of the company on a courtesy call on the envoy.

A statement on the visit to the High Commissioner was made available to newsmen in Abuja by Ahmed.

The High Commissioner specifically urged the federal government to sustain the policies beyond the present administration so that local industries in the country would grow.

He also thanked the management of Tiamin Rice for the courtesy call and for patronising Indian rice milling machines.

Earlier,, Ahmed disclosed that the company had invested a total of $13,370,500 (about N4.7 billion) to boost its local rice production capacity from the current 320 tonnes to 1,520 tonnes per day.

Ahmed said that the policy of the present administration, especially the ban on smuggling and the interventions given to them by the Central Bank of Nigeria had helped immensely in boosting local production of rice.

He revealed that the company was established in 2016 in Kano and started production of rice in 2018 with 320 tonnes per day.

The managing director disclosed that the existing production line in Kano would be expanded from 320 tonnes to 920 tonnes next year, just as a new production line would start production of 600 tonnes per day in Bauchi by May 2020.