Misbahu Bashir
24 September 2007
An agricultural adviser dispatched by the Japanese government to Nigeria, Mr. Nobuki Toyooka weekend met with the Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, Dr. Sayyadi Abba Ruma.
Toyooka, an expert in rice production, who will be in Nigeria till November 24th, told the minister that he would assess problem areas of rice production, post harvest processes and marketing with a view to identifying critical areas of intervention. He will also explore and identify other areas of future bilateral cooperation between Nigeria and Japan, after which a comprehensive report will be submitted to both governments for consideration.
He said he was sent to Nigeria after the request for technical cooperation assistance to Nigeria in the area of post harvest rice improvement and technical manpower development made by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in conjunction with Federal Department of Agriculture (FDA) that conducted field surveys between February and May 2005, on the problems of post harvest rice processing in Nigeria.
Dr. Ruma told the Japanese adviser that the federal government was poised to accord rice production a place of pride to reduce the loss of foreign exchange incurred in the importation of rice in which Nigeria has comparative advantage. He said as a mark of Nigeria's commitment to boosting rice production, the country would be hosting the 26th ordinary session of the West African Rice Development Association (WARDA) council of ministers in Abuja this week.
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