20 August 2008
Lagos — Minister of Commerce and Industry, Chief Charles Ugwu, has said the Federal Government has earmarked N10 billion intervention fund for local processing of rice.
He said this yesterday in Abuja, at the opening of the "National Dialogue on Rice Production: The Challenges of Sustainability," under the auspices of NEPAD Nigeria.
Represented by Mr Usman Gwandu, Director, Commo-dities, Ugwu said the measure was taken to reduce the impact of the high price of rice, and to enable Nigeria to become a net producer and exporter of rice.
The measure, he added, was aimed at improving the processing of rice to meet international and competitive standards, adding that modalities for disbursing the fund were being worked out by the Bank of Industry.
He said government was working on the institution of integrated processing plants in all rice producing areas of the country.
The minister said implementation of the cluster strategy had been adopted as an industrial policy, to fast-track the country's industrialisation.
In his paper entitled: "Market Information System as a Tool for Rice Development in Nigeria," Dr Chuma Ezedinma, a market information expert, said the growth rate in domestic rice production was not encouraging.He said Nigeria was one of the world's largest importers of rice, with an annual demand of more than five million tonnes.
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