Rice prices, which remained at historically high levels, according to data from various Commodity Markets Outlook reports, could crash next month.

The Lagos State Government is said to have intensified effort to kick off the 32 tonne per hour Imota Rice Mill in Ikorodu.

The Nation learnt that recruitment of staff that will run the mill is ongoing, and that ahead of the commissioning and operation of the rice mill, the State Government has handed over the management of the facility to WACOT Rice Limited, a subsidiary of TGI Group, a private investor, for efficient running.


The private firm is to provide operational support and manage the mill for nine months in the first instance through Joint Venture. The partnership is subject to renewal subsequently.

The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Agriculture (Rice Initiative), Dr. Rotimi Fashola, said the private firm shared the Sanwo-Olu administration’s conviction to meet high demand for rice and make Lagos self-sufficient in rice production and processing.

He said: “There is a need for the Government to put the rice mill on the path of sustainability. We sourced a partnership in rice production business that has a stable brand and eye for efficiency. This brings forth this Joint Venture and technical support agreement with WACOT.”

In June, Lagos State Government began the training and empowerment of 500 rice farmers from three senatorial districts. The farmers received knapsack sprayer’s bags of fertilisers rice seedlings and farm coats.



Fashola said that aim of the programme was to develop the rice value chain in line with the ongoing Imota rice mill.

He said the mill would require over 200 000 tonnes of paddy yearly to produce about 2 4 million 50kg bags of rice.


“However, the government has realised that such investment may not yield expected dividend without an investment in the capacity building and training of rice farmers in the state.”Thus, the state through the Ministry of Agriculture embarked on training of rice farmers and empowering them to improve their livelihood.”This year, 500 rice farmers had been trained and are being empowered with knapsack sprayers, bags of fertilisers, seeds and farm coats,” he said.

“With this, we hope that a substantial paddy will be produced and at least, we should be able to get up to 2,000 tonnes and above from the farmers that we are empowering,” he said.

Imota Rice Mill comprises major sections including boiler house, water storage and treatment, truck park, administrative building with offices, clinic and meeting room.

Others are rice production factory, fire station, storage warehouse (6000m2) and storage silos among others.

Lagos State Government set up two lines of 16 MT/hour capacity rice mill, in Imota, Ikorodu, to meet the high demand for consumption of rice thereby pushing Lagos State towards self-sufficiency in the area of rice production and processing.

The price of rice has risen to a record high of N37, 000 per 50kg bag, with Fashola expressing concern over rising rice prices.

The recent flooding in some parts of the country exacerbated the situation, sending the price of rice, which sold for between N27, 000 and N28, 000 in August, to N37, 000 per 50 kg bag.

Then, 50kg bag of short-grain foreign rice sold between N34, 000 to N36, 000. Foreign rice is forecasted to hit N40, 000 per 50kg bag before the end of the year.

Analysts attributed this to the increase in prices of production inputs that have been the largest since 2018.

According to them, these developments have raised the spectre of stagflation and brought harm to the national agricultural economy.

Fashola, however said the government was working to ensure the mill takes off this year to help crash the price of rice.

https://thenationonlineng.net/imota-rice-mill-project-may-crash-rice-prices/

Wow...great Lagos doing great things through a great governor

Na obi do am

For now, I don't think they will be able to crash the price when they start running because,they are still going to depend on rice from the North unless they will be allowed to import

If only all state can as well invest into rice too.......despite being a city lagos still invested heavily into agriculture and states that should originally invest into such are embezzling

God bless the federal republic of Nigeria
God bless president Muhammadu Buhari

Blessed are those who bless Nigeria and cursed are those who curse Nigeria.

Devil punish Ipogs/ESN and all terrorists with their supporters….may the land of Nigeria continue to swallow them up.

Finally, God bless president-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Exactly what we heard in 2016 and it's 6 years already and nothing yet. I'm optimistic that Nigeria will get it right in local rice production, but it's useless running this sort of propaganda speculative news.

The people of the land where the sun will never rise again won't be happy with this development

They'll rather export tbe excess instead of crashing the price.

Has Dangote and BUA crashed cement price?

Lolzzzzz... Is this the first time we are hearing something like dis? The FG went as far as constructing fake rice pyramids to prove there's so much rice to crash the price yet local rice is upwards of 35k now from around 20k by this time last year

Imota rice since ambode no do anything na now them want do something

I have not been able to make sense of this project from the time it was first proposed by Ambode.

So, unshelled rice will be transported all the way from Kebbi and other northern states to Lagos for processing. Even if we assume that only 75% of the 200,000 tons daily input is brought down from the North, that'll require 600 'trailers' each carrying 25 tons of raw rice to Lagos, daily! Does that make sense? And to think there is no shortage of processing Mills in the North, what then is the advantage in processing the rice in Lagos.

3 years ago, we read that Lagos was setting up large farms in Ekiti and other SW states. Curiously, it has all gone quiet on that front. No state in the SW has a history of producing rice at a quantity that is anywhere near what this mill requires daily. And where are the farms now.

And now, Lagos state government is telling us they have completed training of 500 farmers, and equipped them with, not tractors, industrial harvesters etc, but Knapsacks! So, how much rice can 500 subsistent farmers working with Knapsacks produce? The whole thing is laughable.

Something tells me this rice mill is one of the most wasteful and expensive white elephant projects in the history of Nigeria. Of course, because Lagos is so good at propaganda, they will massage the production figures to deceive the citizens.

Lagos state has no business getting involved in this rice milling business.

Ambode said it was for food security for Lagos residents.

Absolute tosh.

If it was for food security, how come they didn't set up similar factories for garri production, beans processing, tomato, bread flour etc

Lagosians have been going to market to buy rice for decades without government involvement. Why did the government feel the need to intervene.

One wonders about the true motive behind this expensive, monstrous, and needless project. Corruption?