Nigeria to increase rice milling capacity

The Nigerian government said Thursday the country would increase the rice milling capacity to achieve its goal of being self-sufficient by 2018.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Audu Ogbeh told reporters in Abuja that the government has commenced the process of procuring additional 40 large-scale rice mills to achieve the goal.

"We can achieve the economic diversification goal of government and surmount the present economic recession," he said.

According to Ogbeh, the Nigerian Integrated Rice Mills plan is aimed at creating local and international markets for farmers and also unlock the enormous potentials in agriculture.

He said Nigeria hopes to annually export 10 million tonnes of food to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and beyond by 2019.

With its food import bill on the decline since 2013, the government of the West African nation has entered into a partnership with six world-leading agro companies to introduce the right technologies to turn around its agro value chain.

Nigeria has huge agricultural potentials with 11 million hectares of arable land, 263 billion cubic meters of water with two of the largest rivers in Africa. However, 60 percent of its arable land remain uncultivated. Endit