Modu Kundiri, a rice farmer in Alau, Jere, Local Government Area of Borno State has said traditional milling which involves hand pounding of paddy does not produce the desired grains which is why he prefers a rice milling machine to a car.
The farmer said milling, which is the most vital aspect in rice production, has not been improved upon in many local communities so in the end the quality of the grain is affected.
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“I grow rice annually and harvest between 35 and 40 bags of paddy each season, but milling has been our major problem because most local farmers do not have enough capital to buy or hire modern machines. Most of the local farmers including me prefer modern milling machines to cars,” he said.
Incidentally, Kundiri was among 250 farmers that received the donation of a modern rice milling machine from the member representing Jere Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, Hon. Satomi Ahmed.
The farmer, who spoke after receiving the machine said with the new development, the output from his farm will be of better quality with low broken rate.
In his remarks, Hon. Ahmed said the machines were donated to the farmers to improve their output and income.
He said, “The essence is to make farmers self-reliant and improve the GDP of the local government area which has five rice producing communities.
“We supported them earlier with seedlings and fertilizer and today we are giving out milling machines to add value to their harvest. The machine can produce maize and rice grit.
“We are distributing the machines before the start of harvest bearing in mind the power outage that hit the state so that other investors and public authorities can augment in other areas.
“The machine can be powered by a small generator. We can support a farmer with a 15kva generator to supply power to a farmer’s hub with 20 milling machines in the form of a central power system and ration project. What I mean by ration project is that they will mill and the operator will take part of the rice; the machine has a sorter and destoner.
“This means that instead of supplying unprocessed rice to other states, the rice will be supplied after being processed. Investors will come and boost the economy of the state. There is a new factory which also processes and adds value to the rice being produced in Maiduguri.”
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