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Okwe Obi, Abuja and Tunde Omolehin, Sokoto
The Federal Government has expressed optimism that rice farmers will increase from the current 13 million to 20 million and that consumption of rice has increased.
Government also said although inaccessibility of credit may be the bane why most youths deride agriculture, but assured of its commitment to make it available and affordable.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh disclosed this in Abuja, recently, when he signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Messrs. MV Agro Engineers Nigeria Limited and MV Agro Engineers PVT Limited, India for the establishment of 10 integrated large scale rice processing plants in the country.
Ogbeh, who hailed the ingenuity and ambitiousness of young people, disclosed that part of the reasons why the government decided to establish more plants was due to the slowness of the smaller mills and the efficiency of them to de-stone the rice which made it difficult for consumption.
