The 8th edition of the Rice & Sesame Supply Chain conference was recently hosted in Kano by Popular Farms & Mills Ltd, a member of the Stallion Group, with many stakeholders in the rice industry in attendance.
The annual event has been institutionalised as a formal platform to announce the commencement of the wet harvest of paddy rice and sesame in Nigeria.
In his address to the participants, Managing Director, Popular Farms & Mills Ltd, Mr. Amit Kumar Rai, stated that the company was working in close collaboration with all stakeholders and the government to tackle the pandemic that has caused serious social and economic problems in the country.
He recalled that the company had donated free rice and fish for three months to hospitals dedicated to COVID–19 care in the country, with health facilities in all 36 states and isolation centres across 15 states benefitting from the gesture.
Rai further said, “Our company’s objective is to target production of 1.50 million tons of rice in Nigeria through establishing more rice milling facilities and structured farming activities. The focus is to make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice production.”
Every year, the conference recognises and rewards stakeholders, namely aggregators, farmers cooperatives, progressive farmers, logistic coordinators, financial institutions, technical partners and non-governmental organisations for their efforts and contribution in company’s paddy rice & sesame value chain backward integration initiatives.
To flag off this year’s event, each of the Popular Farms & Mills Ltd aggregation centres hosted approximately 20 suppliers and the local government authorities. The top suppliers of the regions were rewarded for their impressive contributions, especially during the lock down period – taking particular note of the fact that despite the intrastate border closure and restraints on free movement, they {the suppliers} ensured that the essential commodity reached where it was most needed.
On the awardees’ list were: Sani Musa Abunaka and NababaIsha Ibrahim from north-central region; Abdullahi Guirin and Umar Dan Alhaji from north-east; and Abdullahi Izge and Shehu Bawa from north-west regions.
Safety protocols and staggered attendance by location were followed to keep everyone safe from the scourge of the pandemic during the event. The regional events were hosted at Kano Rice Mill for north-central region; Sokoto regional office for north-west; and Yola regional office for north-east.
Popular Farms & Mills Ltd has been in the fore front in driving self-sufficiency in rice, making it the country’s most viable route that can successfully navigate the current economic dilemma in recent times.
The company assured that it would continue to push forward its agenda of opportunity, sufficiency and security in Nigeria, having entered into a partnership with over 1,451 cooperative groups, and having direct access to more than 71,486 member-farmers and 65,715 hectares of rice farm land area for increasing the rice and sesame production and developing agro business in Nigeria.
The participants commended the group for sponsoring several training programmes and distributing free rice farming tools to out growers across the rice producing states in Nigeria.
Also lauded at the 8th Rice & Sesame Supply Chain forum were the group’s backward integration value chain initiatives which the participants noted are executed and brought to the doorsteps of rice farmers through its 16 aggregation centres spread across 14 states. This year, the supply chain is expanding further to operate 21 aggregation centres in 18 states.