Govt to import $1.2b cassava, rice processing plants
cassava and 100 rice processing plants worth
$1.2 billion from the Republic of China.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, said
this was part of the government’s efforts to
add more value to the value chains,
especially for cassava and rice production.
In a statement by the ministry, its Director of
Information, Salisu Na’inna, stated that
Nigeria’s export-import bank and China’s
export-import bank have begun negotiations
on the deal.
The President of China Development Bank, Mr Wang Weidong, said China and Nigeria are
agro-based countries and assured that his country would render the required assistance.
Weidong identified farmland development and production of fertiliser and their use as other
areas the two countries could partner just like the Chinese Jute System.
Meanwhile, Adesina has pledged to support and upgrade about 153 cassava processing Small
and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country.
Adesina made the pledge yesterday during an a visit of cassava value-chain stakeholders to
his office in Abuja.
The President of National Cassava Processors and Marketers Association, Mr Ayo Olubumi,
urged the minister to look into the condition of the SMEs’ audit, including other challenges
facing them.
No comments: