The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh has disclosed that 14 new rice mills will be established soon.
Ogbeh said the rice mills will attract investment worth N250 billion to the sector, but did not disclose where the rice mills will be located within the country.
The minister said this in Abuja during the Agro Nigeria High-level Rice Conference.
“Home-grown international grade rice can be found across Nigerian markets and a total of 14 mills will soon come on board.”
“There are presently 21 large integrated rice mills with a total processing capacity of 1.22 million metric tonnes yearly and spreading across the country, from Kano, Enugu, Ebonyi, Kebbi, Anambra, Edo, Nasarawa, Benue, Kwara, Jigawa, Niger and Kogi states,” he said.
He further said that “the challenges associated with local rice, which has discouraged consumers, especially when compared to imported rice, have been overcome.”
“Today, several integrated local rice mills have their milled rice in the Nigerian market and consumer demand and preference for local rice have risen due to better quality and taste compared to imported rice,” the minister said.
