The Federal Government on Thursday inaugurated the National Rice Development Strategy (NRDS ll), to achieve self- sufficiency in rice production.
The federal government also inaugurated the Competitive African Rice Platform (CARP) – Nigeria, dedicated to the productivity and sustainability of the Rice industry.
The CARP Nigeria, aimed to improve the competitiveness of locally grown rice through economic, social, environmental and policy avenues.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister of State for Agriculture, Mustapha Shehuri, said NRDS II document is a ten-year plan(2020-2030), which seeks to provide direction for the development of the rice subsector.
Shehuri said NRDS II seeks to also achieve government’s goals of self-sufficiency in Rice production, food and nutrition security, employment creation and production of surplus for export.
He said federal government was extremely committed to the promotion of Agricultural sector in order to realise its potential of achieving food and nutrition security for the country’s teeming population.
” The Rice Value Chain has been identified as being strategic to achieving these lofty objectives. This underscores the importance of today’s event,” he said.
He recalled that NRDS I which was used to develop the Rice Transformation Agenda under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda and Agricultural Promotion Policy (APP) served as a catalyst for the commencement of the Rice revolution in the country.
