The Lagos State Government has disclosed its readiness to increase the production of paddy rice at the state’s own rice factory, Imota Rice Mill, from 15,000 metric tons of rice paddy produced last year (2023) to 100,000 metric tons this year.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya, said during the Lagos Food Systems Stakeholders’ Breakfast Meeting that the purpose of the meeting was to inform the stakeholders about the ministry’s activities for the year 2024 and also get their contributions.
Olusanya explained that the state government would increase the production of rice paddy by partnering with other sister states, such as Niger and Kebbi, on land bank collaboration as part of the roadmap to increase the production of rice paddy in order to meet the growing rice consumption of the state.
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The Commissioner reiterated the state government’s commitment to implementing the five-year agricultural and food systems roadmap to achieve 40 percent food self-sufficiency by 2025 through the provision of funds for agricultural service providers, improvement of rice paddy production, and land bank collaboration with sister states.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Agriculture, Dr. Oluwarotimi Fashola, pointed out on his own that the state will need N50 billion to successfully reach 100,000 metric tons of paddy production.
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“We were able to do roughly about 15,000 metric tons of paddy, which is over 120,000 bags of rice in 2023, but this year, we are hoping to do 100,000 metric tons of paddy. Believe me, it’s not cheap, because last year we started at about N200, 000 per ton, but today, as I speak, the cost of paddy is about N510, 000 per ton.
“We started off with about 5,000 metric tons of paddy, and with the ingenuity of the team, we were able to partner with the Commodity and Exchange Board, bringing another close to 10,000 paddy for us to end the year. Fashola noted.
