By Chinyere Anyanwu and Laide Raheem (Abeokuta)
The collapse of the Lakerice and MITROS rice projects is a poignant tale of lost potential and unfulfilled promises.
Lakerice was a product of the partnership between Lagos and Kebbi governments and was unveiled in December 2016.
A year later, in December 2017, the Mission To Rebuild Ogun State (MITROS) rice project was established by the immediate past administration of Senator Ibikunle Amosun.
The two rice projects, launched in the South West part of the country amid fanfare, were driven by the same vision of making locally produced rice available and affordable for citizens of the region and Nigerians in general.
The projects were envisioned to catalyse job creation; revive agriculture; support the federal government’s efforts of ensuring food sufficiency and ultimately grow the economy.
By strengthening local rice production, they aimed to reduce import dependency, enhance economic growth and position Nigeria as a self-sufficient player in the global rice market.
Lakerice was packaged in 50kg bags and sold for N12,000 each; 25kg bags sold for N6,000 each; and 10kg bags sold for N2,500 each. The MITROS rice, which was the local Ofada brand the state was known for, was also packaged in 1kg, 5kg, 10kg, 25kg and 50kg bags. The 50kg bag was sold for N11,500 while the price of the 1kg bag was set at N2,300.
Under the agreement between Lagos and Kebbi states for the production and distribution of Lakerice, Kebbi was responsible for cultivating and processing the rice, while Lagos, as the nation’s commercial hub, took charge of marketing and distribution.
The launch of Lake Rice in Lagos was met with great enthusiasm, with then-Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and his Kebbi State counterpart, Atiku Bagudu, expressing optimism about the project’s potential to ease the burden on rice consumers in Lagos and beyond. The collaboration promised to make high-quality, locally produced rice available at a significantly lower cost, providing much-needed relief amid rising food prices.
Speaking at the event, Ambode described the initiative as a landmark achievement for both states and the country at large. He highlighted that, beyond affordability, Lake Rice was guaranteed to be fresh, safe, and of superior quality, ushering in a new era of food security and agricultural empowerment for Nigerians.
At the MITROS rice launch in Abeokuta, the state capital, Amosun, said, “our past efforts at tackling poverty in all ramifications will amount to nothing if concerted efforts are not taken to ensure food security to people at all income levels. This is why today is a significant day, not just for Ogun State, but for Nigeria as well. The MITROS Rice Mill, the first of its kind in Ogun State, will create jobs for our farmers. From now on, they will no longer need to travel far and wide in search of milling facilities.”
Governor Amosun, who lamented that one of the biggest tragedies of the country was the dependence on food importation to feed the population despite abundant arable land and labour force, said the rice production would boost food supply, reduce dependency on imported ones while the mill would create jobs for farmers in the state.
With the rice pyramid at the venue of the launch, there was no doubt that Ogun State had taken giant strides not just to feed Nigerians but also to assist the federal government in taking the country from a crude oil dependent economy to an agriculture sustaining economy.
Owing to their reduced prices, both rice brands, Lake rice and MITROS rice, at the time of their birthing, became answers to the prayers of teeming Nigerians whom the increasing prices of the imported brands were making it almost impossible for them to buy rice.
However, the excitement and optimism surrounding these rice brands were fleeting, as both gradually vanished from the market just a few years after their much-celebrated launch. Consumers who had embraced the shift from imported rice to these locally produced alternatives, drawn in by their affordability and promise of quality, were left disheartened as the products became scarce, dashing hopes of a sustainable, homegrown solution to the nation’s rice demand.
An in-depth investigation into the decline of both projects uncovers a web of challenges that ultimately led to their downfall, extinguishing the promise they once held.
For the Lakerice brand, major among the issues was the shortage in production of paddy which was impacted by the increasing insecurity in Kebbi, the state of production.
The Lagos State chapter Chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Femi Oke, had, while clarifying the issue of the non-availability of Lakerice, said the insecurity in Kebbi State grew everyday and that might have caused the problem of not seeing Lakerice in the market.”
Oke explained: “I don’t think there was any machinery acquired in Lagos for the project because the production was done in Kebbi while Lagos was the marketing centre owing to its status as a major commercial hub in the country. The problem may have been that they were not getting paddy.”
Part of the reasons he gave for the disappearance of Lakerice was the establishment of a new mega 32 metric tonnes per hour rice mill in Imota in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State, which he claimed, diverted the state government’s attention from the Lagos-Kebbi initiative.
Oke noted that, “Lagos State has established the largest rice mill in Africa so I think that became their major focus.” He equally expressed fears that the Imota Rice Mill might be plunged into the same problem of non-availability of paddy.
Reacting to the disappearance of Lakerice from circulation, the Kebbi State Commissioner for Agriculture at the time, Maigari Abdullahi Dakingari, blamed the situation on a natural disaster which immensely affected paddy production.
He had stated that, “Kebbi State had not witnessed flood disasters as devastating as the 2020 floods that came when farmers were expecting bumper harvests. The floods regrettably dashed the hopes of many of them. The losses incurred, especially by rice farmers in Kebbi State, were colossal and immeasurable; they run into billions of naira. Thousands of hectares of Fadama rice farms in the state were not spared by the raging floods.”
Ruminating on the possible reason Lakerice and MITROS rice went under, Dr. Kenechukwu Aloefuna, the National President of Agricultural Commodity Consumer Association, adduced that unavailability of paddy was a major challenge.
Aloefuna said, “Lagos State has the biggest rice mill in West Africa but it is under 15 per cent production because of produce. The same thing is applicable to Ogun State. You cannot work if you don’t have raw materials (paddy) to feed in. There isn’t enough paddy for milling and the problem goes beyond Ogun and Lagos.
“There are mills I know that have gone moribund because of scarcity of raw material – paddy. A lot of mills have closed down and that is the story of no paddy. Rice mills are processing centres not farming centres, so if what they will process is not available from the farm, they will not be functional.”
He further stated that, “the MITROS Mill and Lakerice Mill were more of what I call political businesses because if they were real enterprises, it is not a bad idea to release money to fund the farming of paddy.”
For MITROS rice, production ceased not long after the official launch, as the rice mill in the Asero area of Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State, became non-operational.
A visit to the once-thriving rice mill painted a stark picture of neglect and abandonment. The multi-million naira machines, once the heart of the MITROS Rice project, now sat idle, gathering dust and rust.
The block of offices within the complex, which once bustled with activity, had fallen eerily silent, with empty hallways and locked doors standing as a testament to a dream that never fully materialised.
At its peak, the facility was a hive of activity, symbolizing Ogun State’s bold step towards agricultural self-sufficiency.
However, those days are now a distant memory.
According to a source within the complex, the rice mill had ceased operations even before the administration that initiated the project left office in 2019.
The source, who craved anonymity, added that the project was bound to fall through as the initiating administration hurriedly put the project in place to attract the N4 billion Anchor Borrowers Fund Federal Government incentive for local rice farming.
Insincerity on the part of the government, particularly regarding the availability of paddy capable of supplying the mill, contributed majorly to the failure of MITROS rice project, the source further pointed out.
The failure of the two celebrated rice mills in the South West region of the country, which held immense potential to solve the rice and employment needs of Nigerians, points to the inability of government to effectively think through projects before embarking on them, thereby sending scarce resources down the drain.