Calabar rice seedling factory will reduce rice importation –Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said the rice seedling factory in Calabar would reduce rice importation along Nigeria’s borders, thereby saving the nation’s foreign exchange.

Buhari, who made the disclosure during the commissioning of the rice seedling plant built by the Cross River state government on Tuesday in Calabar, said the factory was also targeted at creating employment opportunities for the unemployed.

The President said the plant was in line with his administration drive to make the nation less dependent on crude oil by investing in other sectors of the economy, particularly agriculture.

“Indeed, this factory speaks loudly about the giant strides we are making in agriculture as a country. This monumental project for which we are gathered here today is a marvel to behold.

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“The factory, which is said to be the first in Africa, is an automated plant with a capacity to produce high yielding vitaminized and disease resistance rice seedlings,” he said.

Buhari said the factory is expected to improve rice yield from the current national average of 3 to 4 tons per hectare to about 9 to 10 tons per hectare, saying it would help to ensure rice sufficiency in the country and would serve as a veritable platform for income generation for the State.

He urged relevant Federal Government Agencies such as the Ministry of Agriculture and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), through its Anchor Borrower’s Programme, to partner with state government in the area of supply of seedlings to Nigerian farmers.

Last week, the Federal Government had said it would shut down the land border between Nigeria and a neigbouring country in a bid to stem the tide of smuggling of foreign rice into the country and improve rice production in the country.

 

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