Abuja — An agro-firm, Olam Nigeria Limited, has hinted that it has so far invested the sum of $10 million for the production of rice in Nigeria Managing Director of Olam, Mr. Venkataramani Srivathsan, who dropped the hint in Abuja, said that the amount which his company has invested in Benue and Kwara States is to ensure that high quality rice is produced for the domestic market.

Srivathsan further disclosed that the initiative, which commenced in 2006, has doubled the productivity and tripled the income per hectare of more than 7,000 small-holder rice farmers in Benue State alone.

"After the project commenced in Benue State in 2006, we moved into Kwara State the following year with an initial focus on seed multiplication. This year, we have networked over 8,000 farmers in Benue and another 1,500 in Kwara. Till date, Olam has invested $5 million to upgrade the Benue mill and increase its milling vapacity to 36,000 metric tonnes per annum. For this year's cropping season, Olam and MARKETS have been able to facilitate over $4.2 million in small-holder credit for farmers in the Benue programme through the First Bank of Nigeria ," he said.

According to Srivathsan, the project, which Olam is partnering with the United States Agency International Development (USAID), through USAID-funded Maximising Agriculture Revenues in Key Enterprises and Targets Sites (MARKETS), will go a long way to directly impact on the nation's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as it would ensure food sufficiency and food security in the country.

The project is based on Olam's commitment to source raw materials locally through small-holder farmers, as well as to produce finished rice that can compete with the imported ones.

Having seen the success of the partnership, Srivathsan disclosed that Olam hopes to include Anambra State in the project.