Stallion Group’s Popular Farms & Mills Ltd has been in the fore front in driving self-sufficiency in rice, making it the country’s most viable route that can successfully meander the current economic dilemma in recent times.
Annual supply chain meet by the group has been institutionalized as a formal platform to announce the commencement of the wet harvest of Paddy Rice & Sesame in Nigeria. The event recognizes and rewards stakeholders namely aggregators, farmers cooperatives, progressive farmers, logistic coordinators, financial institutions, technical partners and NGOs for their efforts and contribution in company’s paddy rice & sesame value chain backward integration initiatives.
Each center hosted approximately 20 suppliers and the local government authorities to flag off the event. The top suppliers of the region were rewarded for their impressive contributions, especially during the lock down period.
Despite the intrastate border closure and restrains on free movement the suppliers ensured that the essential commodity reached where it was most needed.
The company awarded Sani Musa Abunaka and Nababa Isha Ibrahim from North Central region, Abdullahi Guirin and Umar Dan Alhaji from North East and Abdullahi Izge and Shehu Bawa from North west regions for their stupendous contributions.
Safety protocols and staggered attendance by location were followed to keep everyone safe from the scourge of the pandemic during the event. The regional events were hosted at Kano Rice Mill for North Central region. Sokoto Regional office for North West region and Yola Regional Office for North East Region.
Managing Director, Popular Farms & Mills ltd, Mr. Amit Kumar Rai in his address to the audience stated that the company was working in close coordination with all stakeholders and the government to tackle the pandemic that has caused a social and economic mayhem in the country.
The company pledged free rice and fish for three months to hospitals dedicated to COVID – 19 care in Nigeria. 36 State hospitals and isolation centers across 15 states in Nigeria were beneficiaries of the relief execution program.
The organization was also proud to supply rice to the Presidential Scheme. The plant continued to support essential commodity production in line with the government’s guidelines. COVID-19 guidelines were strictly adhered for staff involved in plant operations and employees were given appreciation bonus for tiding through the tough times.
He added that the “company’s future objective is to target production of 1.50 million tons of Rice in Nigeria through establishing more Rice Milling Facilities and structured farming activities. The focus is to make Nigeria self-sufficient in Rice Production”.
Popular Farms has been pushing forward the agenda of opportunity, sufficiency & security in Nigeria by entering into a partnership with over 1,451 cooperative groups, having direct access to more than 71,486 member-farmers and 65,715 hectares of Rice Farm land area for increasing the rice and sesame production and developing agro business in Nigeria. The group imparts several training programs and distributes free rice farming tools to out growers across the rice producing states in Nigeria. Its Rice and Sesame backward integration value chain initiatives and activities are executed and brought to the doorsteps of Rice Farmers through its 16 Aggregation Centers spread across 14 states. This year its supply chain activities are expanding further to operate 21 aggregation centers in 18 states.
The annual supply chain meet appreciated the government bodies and authorities for their quick decision making and commended the paddy suppliers, logistic and handling partners and farmers and mill division team who continue to play pivotal roles in the supply chain activities amidst the pandemic.
The company is truly driving the Nigerian Rice Revolution with a central objective of bringing self-sufficiency in Rice.
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