Nasarawa State rice millers record N8m daily sales

Alhaji Ibrahim Adamu, Chairman, Rice Millers and Dealers Association in Nasarawa State, says the ban on rice importation has boosted the sales of local rice to over N8 million per day.
Adamu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lafia on Friday that the Lafia Rice Mill alone sold over six trucks of rice daily, while each of the smaller mills across the state sold between two to three trucks.

He said that a bag of rice sold for N25, 000, while a truckload of rice, which contained 400 bags, would fetch around N1 million.

“Before the ban on the importation of foreign rice, millers in the state
hardly sold two trucks in a week. “The government policy has enticed lots of investors into the business, with over 28,000 persons gainfully involved in rice milling activities in Lafia alone,’’ he said.

Adamu, however, urged the government and donor agencies to assist rice millers with modern milling machines and de-stoners to enhance the quality of their commodity to meet international standard.

He commended the current economic diversification move of the Federal Government via the exportation of yam, saying that the nation would soon begin the exportation of rice, owing to its current level of rice production.

Adamu urged the Nasarawa State Government to construct access roads to rice
mills across the state so as to ease the transportation of their produce to
the markets.