Ayade calls on youths to venture into agriculture as rice maill begins production

Emmanuel Alfred

The Ogoja Rice Mill & Processing Factory which was recently concessioned by the State Government to upscale rice production has commenced full commercial production.

This was done as part of the initiative to grow Cross River State’s economy by diversifying the revenue streams of the State in the area of agriculture, which was called “Green Millionaires Project” by His Excellency, Sen Prof Ben Ayade.

In order to provide a steady market where demand will meet supply, Sen Ayade said “rice farmers can now bring the rice products to their different Local Government Headquarters where the rice products will be bought from them”.

“The rice, after purchase from the farmers will be taken to the Rice Mill for processing and repackaging. We are doing this to ensure that the farmers have money for the products while the rice mill will improve the quality of the rice before being sent to bigger markets”. Ayade said.

The Government is now advising anyone who wants to make money to quickly venture into rice production. Also, all rice farmers in the state are also asked to take their rice harvest to the Ogoja Rice Mill site and get cash for their products instantly at the point of exchange.
By virtue of these, alll rice grown and supplied from within the State will be milled, processed and bagged as Ogoja Rice.

According to the General Manager of AA Universal Agro Industries Ltd, Francesco Antonio Lucarelli, the contractor handling the project, “The Cross-River Rice Mill is an ultra-modern facility with a storage capacity of over 6500 metric tonnes,” making it the biggest in Nigeria.

The traditional institutions in the state, the farmers cooperative, the villagers and heads of rural setups should please inform all rice farmers within their constituencies to know that the biggest market; the Ogoja Rice Mill is ready to take all rice for instant payments right at the spot of transaction.