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Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, has revealed that the Federal Government is set to commission Mabeli Rice soon.
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The Minister disclosed this during the inspection of the Rice Mill facility in Suleja, Niger State on Thursday, where he said the facility has the capacity to produce 200 metric tons per day.
He pointed out that the essence is to enhance processing, food quality and nutrition which was very key to the present administration.
Sen. Kyari commended the Managing Director MV. Agro Engineers Nig. Ltd, Managing Director Bank of Agriculture and the Ministry for the initiative, noting that the Rice is being grown and processed in Nigeria can compete with international standard.
“We have seen, gone round and will commission this rice mill in the nearest future,” he assured.
He called on all rice farmers to be ready within the next couple of weeks, noting that the ministry will reach out to them and would also roll out programmes for rice cultivation in the dry season.
Earlier, the Managing Director, MV Agro Engineers Nig. Ltd, Jamu Baba Dan’agundi stated that the Rice Mill facility basically composed of four sections; intake section, parboiling, milling and packaging.
He noted that parboiling soften the rice before milling, adding however that parboiling is a matter of choice. He stated that some countries do not parboil theirs and even if they do, it does not remove the nutrient content of the rice.
The rice mill is a private sector initiative under public private partnership.
In a similar vein, the minister also inspected the Nigerian Agricultural Demonstration Center in Ushafa, Abuja.
The demonstration farm facility is into rice seed, which produced Maigandu Quality Milled Rice, Sesame Oil, Flour mill, Tractors, Drone for spraying chemicals among others.