The Federal Government said the country will soon achieve self sufficiency in rice production as annual importation of the produce drop in the last two years.
Addressing a press conference yesterday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said rice importation dropped from 644,131
Metric Tonnes to about 21,000 MT between September 2015 and September
2017.
He said “Nigeria is inching closer to achieving self-sufficiency in
rice, due to the success recorded by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration in the local production of rice.”
The minister said investors from Thailand had indicated interest in establishing rice mills in the country saying ‘’A few years ago, these Thai investments would not have been possible since Nigeria was not considered a top rice producing country. Today, Nigeria is one of the largest producers of rice.”
Mohammed said the increase in rice production did not happen by accident, but was largely due to the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, initiated by President Buhari, which supports farmers through inputs distribution and loans.
He said the situation has led to the establishment of rice mills, including the 120,000MT WACOT Mill in Kebbi and the 1,000,000MT Dangote Rice Mill.
The minister said the administration’s target is 7 million MT rice production by 2018, to meet the 2015, rice demand in the country which was 6.3 million MT.
