FG BACKS UMAHI'S BAN ON SALES OF FOREIGN RICE

The Federal Government has given its backing to Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi's    ban on the sale of foreign rice in the state.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development,Chief Audi Ogbe,stated gave the  no when he visited Ettem Amagu Rice Farm in Ikwo Local Government Area  as part of his assessment of agricultural potential of   the state.

Ogbeh, who was in company with    the Chairman, Presidential Committee on Rice  production, Abubakar  Bagudu and  Central Bank  of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele,commended  Umahi for his agricultural policy,   particularly in ensuring massive rice production in the state.

The minister said," Governor,I hear you banned  the sale of foreign rice in your  state, God bless you for it. I also hear you invited young men to come back from Lagos and work here,God bless you also  for it. They will be  happier here in this state than living under the bridge or substandard accommodation in Lagos,Abuja or elsewhere."

  Ogbeh, in a statement on Saturday by Umahi's Chief Press Secretary, Emma Anya,  called on youths to key into agriculture to diversify the economy and  see  it as  a way out of the present economic recession in the country.

He promised to bring agricultural   equipment  like rice havesters ,threshers, par- boiling drums, etc.toEbonyi State.

His words: "By the  middle of last week,I had some machines ready for you (Ebonyi State). These include threshers  and even new par-boiling drums which operate differently from what women are using. When those machines come,  young men will be thought how to enter a farm and  harvest rice  for   farmers. These young men and farmers  will make so much money to the extent that they  will become millionaires in the  villages. So wealth is here(in farming)".

The minister,who also announced   Federal Government's plan to plant 1,500 hectares of cashew nuts and set up two cashew roasting plants in Ebonyi State early next year,   expressed satisfaction with what he saw at Ettem Amagu and Akueze Rice Farms.

He described  Ebonyi farmers as the real heroes of President Muhammadu Buhari's push to diversify the nation's economy especially through agriculture.

.

"Governor,next year,we shall plant for you 1,500 hectares of cashew nuts. Five hundred  hectares per  the three senatorial districts in your state. We shall also  build you two factories here for roasting  cashew, " Ogbeh assured.

He  also promised that the  Federal Government would rehabilitate  the Ettem Amagu Ikwo Dam to encourage dry season rice cultivation in the state.

The minister explained that  under Operation 1,037 of the Federal Government, a minimum of 10  dams per  state and the FCT  would  be built.

 The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, in his remark explained that  the apex bank's Anchor  Borrowers Programme  would commence next year to boost farming   and tackle challenges confronting farmers.

Emefiele also pledged the bank's readiness to participate in the clearing and reedredging of theEttem Amagu Dam. 

The Chairman of the  Presidential Committee on Rice production and governor of Kebbi State, Bagudu,said what he saw in  rice producing states showed  that  the country had  achieved self sufficiency in rice production and should therefore commence plan for rice export.

"Success recorded in  the last one year is phenomenal . What we have seen in terms of rice output seems to suggest that the goal of self sufficiency which we hitherto thought will be achieved in 2017, might have already been achieved," he stated.

Governor Umahi had while  welcoming them in the state,commended President  Buhari for reviving agriculture in the country.

He expressed the readiness of the state government  to partner the Federal Government in all season farming.

He said, "There are over30 dams in this state. They  are recharged by very near streams. So we want assistance from the Federal Government in the area of irrigation. We want assistance in the area of money to the farmers. we want assistance in the area of biomass plants.  The  cost of buying diesel  and   maintenance is too  high, We also need   harvesters to assist our farmers."

 The team also visited the state's modern rice mills in  Oso-Edda  and Ikwo where they saw live processed rice rolling out of the machines.

They were also taken to  the popular Abakaliki Rice Mill where they witnessed  the processing of rice paddies with locally-facbricated machines. 

Before departing for the Government House, the team  saw mountains of rice husk in the Abakaliki rice mill  which the Umahi administration plans to use to generate electricity.