The Business head of Stallion Group Company, Popular Farms Mills ltd (PFML) Amit Kumar Rai says the group has invested over $70 million to boost agricultural production especially in the area of rice and sesame farming.
He also said that the group is in partnership with over 1,500 different farmer cooperatives in order to boost rice production in Nigeria.
This is coming as the federal government has reiterated efforts in ensuring that Nigeria produces what it consumes and discourage importation.
“Stallion Group’s, Popular Farms and Mills Limited has invested over the US $70m to boost production of Agric business, especially rice and sesame in Nigeria. It operates the biggest rice mill in Kano with an annual installed capacity of 430000 MT.
“It has a consolidated capacity of 1.7 Mn Metric tons. The group is investing further in additional milling facilities to obtain self-sufficiency in rice, locally. The brands are Tomato King, Double Bull, People’s Princess and Super Champion.
“The company has entered into a partnership with over 1,151 cooperative groups, having 41,486 member-farmers as well as 65,715 hectares of rice farm area for developing the rice business.
“The group imparts training and distributes rice farming tools free of cost to out-growers across the rice-producing states in Nigeria as a part of the fulfilment of dedicated service towards achieving its rice value chain initiative.
“About 20 per cent of these beneficiaries are women who diligently work alongside their male counterparts in the fields to support their families. The group believes that focus on empowering communities to lead to more progressive farmers and greater economic and social opportunities for households.
Rai who stated this during a supply chain meeting recently added that the step towards the land border closure by the government last year was much appreciated by the company as it has boosted local agriculture in Africa’s most populous country.
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“It did come with some very severe short-term effects of price inflation and undesirable impact on legal cross border trade.
“But nonetheless it was essential for a struggling economy. PFML registered the best quarterly sale of rice post Nigeria’s land border closure. The action positively impacted industries from rice to auto to steel to plastics to slew of other products that were hitherto being smuggled across the borders with impunity and at a great economic and social cost to the country,” he added
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