The Federal Government, through the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), is set to deploy three rice processing mills in Adamawa State as part of measures to boost local production, enhance value addition and scale up farmers’ income.
The Executive Secretary of the NALDA, Prince Paul Ikonne, told newsmen in Abuja on Sunday that this was the outcome of his recent interactive session with farmers in the state.
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Ikonne said the agency has identified the NALDA existing farmland, about 4,000 hectares, and had received additional land donations.
He said the agency had also received additional 5000 hectares during a visit to Fulfulde in the state.
According to him, the rice mills have become necessary because the state produces a lot of paddy that goes out to be processed somewhere else.
He said: “NALDA is bringing processing mills that will be in three different locations in order to process and give value to their produce.”
The NALDA boss said he was in Adamawa State following President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to go to all the communities, develop their land and make the people rich.
To achieve this, he said the NALDA would give the farmers improved seeds, provide extension services and tractors; “while the agency buys off the harvest at profitable rate to avoid the farmers’ exploitation by middlemen.”
On repayment arrangement for the tractors, he said: “You are not going to pay money from it, but when we are buying the products you harvested, we will minus a certain percentage of money based on the tractor you have used so that we will be able to keep the tractor going.”
