Lagos State Building Rice Mill to Produce it's Own Lake Rice
- Lagos State commissioner, Abisola Olusanya, said the Lake Rice partnership with Kebbi hasn't been terminated
- Lake Rice to return after COVID-19 pandemic and flood hit operation last year and affecting distribution as well
- Olusanya said the Lagos State government would build its own rice mill in order to start producing Lake Rice
Lake Rice would soon return to compete against other private brands in the market according to the Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya. The state-sponsored rice had stopped operation in 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic had affected the operation of Lake Rice and its distribution capacity. This opened the market up for competitors to take over the market share of the government brand.
Lake Rice was created by the Lagos State and Kebbi state governments and had been in operation since 2017, but the virus outbreak in March and flooding in Kebbi had frustrated operational plans.
Olusanya said the domestic brand will return to the market, but there are so many issues of production and supply in Kebbi:
"The impact of the flooding was grave on rice farms in the state. So, it is not so much about why it is not available, it is a function of why in the producing state there were so much issues of production and supply, for them to process and send to us."
Source: UGC
Olusanya hinted that Lagos State is working on its own rice mill which has a capacity of 32 Metric tonnes per hour, with a production of 2.4 million (50kg) bags of rice. This will make the state government a producer rather than just a receiver of processed rice. She stated during their briefing:
"But part of the agreement also is that if Lagos State is setting up its own rice mill, the agreement is going to shift from receiving processed rice to receiving paddy rice for us to process in our mill. So, it’s not that the partnership has been terminated.”
The rice mill is described as the biggest in Nigeria and in West Africa and will provide for Nigerians.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that Thrive Agric has paid its investors after a year of failing to meet up with its promise. The agric firm had offered investment opportunities.
Several persons subscribed to their agric investment offer, but Thrive Agric failed to pay investors their initial investment and interest on the due date.
Investors publicly accused the company, and this led to a change in leadership. A year after, investors have finally been paid their money completely.
Source: Legit.ng
