Rice explosion is likely to hit Nigeria as more mills emerge to boost supply and edge out foreign products.
The latest mill entering the local market is the Imotal Rice Mill which when completed in weeks would produce 650 bags per hour
The new found rice investment is boosted by the border closure to restrict influx from neighbouring countries which had tended to undermine local production.
Major industrialists have also joined the production of quality rice included Dangote Group and Coscharis company who have vowed not only to produce for local production but for export.
The Lagos State government’s Special Adviser to the Governor on Agriculture, Ms Abisola Olusanya, said this while on a tour the site of the mill, to assess the progress of work expressed satisfaction with the progress of work at the 32 metric-tonnes-per-hour capacity rice mill.
She said that when completed, the mill would be the world’s fourth largest and the biggest in Africa.
The special adviser said that agriculture and food security were important components of the T.H.E.M.E.S Development Agenda of the state government for making Lagos a 21st-century economy.
She expressed government’s commitment to completing the mill, in order to meet the rice demand of the state and indeed, the nation.
”The mill is situated on a landmass of 8.5 hectares of land and each of the two production lines has a capacity of 16 metric tonnes and will produce 650 bags of 50kg rice per hour,” Olusanya said.
She added that the mill was designed, constructed and its equipment installed by local contractors, which underscored the state government’s confidence in the capacity of indigenous engineers.
The governor’s aide said that over 250,000 direct and indirect jobs would be created from the mill when completed, while increased economic activity was also expected at Imota, Ikorodu and the state in general.
