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FRIDAY. OCTOBER 7 . 2011 - 2 7
BUSINESS/ AGRICULTURE
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EbonyAgro reinvigorates local rice production I
N spite of the cullivl!ltion of sector investment and industry _ Oryza glol' berrima, the in Ebonyi State. Fresh, highly African rice in Nigerio for about nutritious and Davoured, the EbonyAgro brand of rice will 3.500 YC<"\l'" the country is yet to attain seIr-sulficiency in the provide Nigerians with a productio n 01 the staple food healthy choice dillere.nt (mm the commodity. From th e Niger old rice exported by countries Della, one of '.be _rUest rice such lIS Vietnam, Thailand and India to Nigeria. planting and plocessing regions 01 the connlly, rice cu1tivlltion Engineer C h arles Ugwuh, utended to SEnegal and some lonner President of oUler parts of the continenL Yet Manufa cturers Association of the planting and processing of Nigeria (MAN) and Chairman, EbonyAgro Industries l.imited food commodity never really improved i n the country. said Ule vision of the company is Unfortulllltely, however, the to take advantage of the cultivation of ~he Airicl!ln rice abundance of paddy rice in declined in fav!Jur of the Asian Ebonyi to set up a tully integrated species, possibly brought to the large scale Rice Processing Mill, African contiT'lent by Arabs which will produce highly during Ule lhlrs Sahara trade. nulritious, Davow-ed and healthy By the 19705, rice had become rice til at meets international a staple food commodity in standard. This, according to NigerilS, but it! cultivation had Ugwuh, will redefine the role of declined leading to massive all actors in rice value chain in importatiun to fill the demand Ebonyi. dividing their functions gap. SUC~:riVF governments in in a way that is most eUicient It the country initiated and will enable the fMmel focus on implemented policies aim at what he knows how to do best. boosting local rmduction of rice which is to plant rice, same for having lecogni?:ed its potenllal the processor. 10 improve nutrition, boost food "Ebonyi State rallks lIS lhe secunty, foster mral development fourth largest producer of paddy and generate (qreign exchange - rice, Ule processing of which is for the count') . The inititttives ironically Cl1lTenUy undertaken were not su~;fu1, wiUI Nigeria by small mills in the mnge of 1 accounting fo r more th an 20 to 3 tons :p e r day based on percent oI sub-Saharan Africa's primitive parboiling techniques rice import, with annual import 1II1d limited to de-husking and de-stoning with litUe attention 10 bill in elrce5S of US $2bn. grading and polishing. sorting. S imilarly, the old Prodm:lion lID'] system where Ule fanner dries his proceSSing Cive-to ten oogs of harvested rice However; ren'l'Wed interest by pnddy, J>lIIboils it, goes to Ule mill govemm~l1t in the ngricu1ture sector; e-peciaIl7 rice production lmd processing may improve the fort unes of tbe sub-sector. Government set aside N 10 billion as Rice PJ'OC'eS!'ing Intervention Fund, to encourage local ProcessuI90f ril'e. TItis is in view of the extensive ::u.ltivation of ria! IGERIAN (arme rs have ac ross ]2 slates and the b ee n asked to come abund ance o f unprocessed together for Uleir plOducts to paddy in the country. Private successfully break into the sectorin"es\ols--vere ellCOurnged EU ropea n Union's fresh to hepar! of lbe:--chemedesigned produce export market. to establish hrge-scale rice Frank Van Gelder, processing mi'ls and clusters Comme rcial Manager, across the coun try. Adelantex, made th e caJi at Ebony Agro Industries limited, th e Fresh Produce Export which recently completed a Summit h e ld in Lagos 5O,OOQ-tollne ric~procesing mill recenUy. in Ebonyi State expressed He sa id Nigeria has th e interest, was I're-qualilied to largest amount o f arable la nd access the Rlce Processing in Africa and fresh ploduce is Intervention FIllld, to set up a already being exporled from fully integrated large-scale riceNigeria, " h oweve r the processing mill, which will cou ntry exports none or its produce, pacJr.!Ige, and grade own product. The fresh one of Ute best brands of lice in produce that is being Nigeria. Thecompany'snagship exported is cOining hom Cote p roducts - Ehony Gold and O'ivoire, Ghana, Benin, Togo Ebony Pearl, vrill be milled to and Cameroon . international standa rd will "Nigeria b oas ts 20~~ of co mpete favourably wilh arab le soil in the whole of impmed rice frf'm South Eastern Africa but doesn'l export any Asia countries. fresh produce anywhere with The new hrand in the 40% of its fresh produce productive sect",; which a:irru to rotting". He continued, redefine local ric e production and "Nigeria is already over its entire value chain in one of producing for its domestic Ule leading agricultullll. states in econo my I!Ind has produc e the country. is ~e biggest private
elUce fie ld
and proa!SSeS it for a fee before heftding to the mruket to sell will no longer be feasible. It is not competitive. In spite of Ih e rigours involved, Ule famler will not produce high quality rice because he is likely to pdIboil with dirty water, put Ule rice on the highway to dry," Ugwuh said. Investment UI an ultra路modem rice-processing mill by EbonyAgro 1ndustries Limited aligns wi th the Federal Governmen t's current policy
focus to re-diversify Ule econorfly and fe-position the agricultumJ sector 10 play its pivolallead role in economic deveiopmenL It .....;n boost the quantity and quality 0 1 rice production in the cou ntry, revitalise and ha rness the enormous potentittl.s 01 the ailing agriculture sector to create food security, swnulttte job creation, while ttl.so enhancing the incom~ of larmers. It is one of Ule four ultra-modem rice-processing mills in various stages of
completion across Ule country, with 13 additional mills by private investors expected to swell Ule number 10 seventeen before 2015, as projected by government. Unchecked importation 0 1 rice hom Indi a, Thailand and Vietnnm may however jeopardize eUorts at growing and developing thelocal rice planting and processing industJy.
How Nigerian farmers can maximize fresh produce market in Europe - Geldcr
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going to waste". The EU market, acconting to him , is a key area where Nigeria ca n grow its export business, as Nigeria is perfectly positioned to cater (or this need. He said Nigeria is much closer than I..lItin America la huge exporter to the EU) a nd its goods will therelore have a much lower carbon
footprint . According to Frank Van there are already 74m hectares of arable land in Nigeria so there is no n eed for deforestation in order to creale plan tations. " Nigerill is relatively close to Europe, it will cost less to transport its goods reducing the end users costs and making Nigerian exports more compe titi ve Gelde~
than oUler countries' exports. Speaking on how the fresh produce trom the country can be flown oul of Ule country to the desired ma rkets, LoicGindre , Commercial Manager OHL AViation 55 Africa, said DHL A"iation already has a plane th at regularly rues in and out o f Nigeria.
Improving grain quality of local rice H OST of interre la ted A production and marketing constraints hinder the expansion of local production. Though consumers in Mali and Guinea tend to prefe r local rice, in many other co untries dOmestic rice seUs at a discou nted price due to perceptions about its poor qu<ility. Most of the factors that underlie Ulis poor quality are related to post- harvest managem e nt operations, resulting in rice with stones and other impurities.
The quality and homogeneity of paddy delivered 10 rice mWers is nol always good. Poor practices by farmers in harvesting , threshing, drying and storing generally contribu te to lowering the quality of locallyproduced rice by mixing good paddy with damaged grains as well as for eig n matter. Paddy grains Ofe often dried on asphalted road where they mix with s tones and olher foreign matter. Locallyproduced rice sol d in mos t
African markets generally contains broken an d w h ole grains of different varieties, sizes, and color. To enhance the market value and appeal o r locallyproduced rice , it will be n ecessary to improve the appearance, cleanliness and homogeneity or grains. This will reqUire lhill rice farmers adopt better harvest and pos tharves t paddy hllndling practices. The improvement of rice processi ng technologies is also critical.