The Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tiamin Rice company for processing and sale of rice to local and international markets.
The deal was confirmed in a statement issued by the Deputy Managing Director, Tiamin Rice company, Mr Aliyu Ibrahim, on Wednesday in Abuja
The rice processing expert said the initiative was aimed at cultivation of quality rice paddy by RIFAN while Tiamin would processand package for sale locally and internationally, in the first instance, to Egypt.
According to him, the MoU, which would be operational for a period of two years, was signed at the company’s 600-metric tonnes per hour capacity mill in Bauchi State.
Ibrahim stated: “RIFAN and Tiamin share a common agenda in the area of rice farming and milling.
“This is to ensure a sustainable supply chain management of rice under a partnership that seeks to produce , mill and package processed rice of the highest quality for export and local trading.
“With a combined capacity of 920 tonnes per hour from its two mills in Kano and Bauchi states, Tiamin Rice is one of the largest producers of rice in Nigeria”, he added.
He disclosed that the company owned a 10,000 hectare rice farm in Udubo, Bauchi State, where it practices large-scale wet and dry season farming with state-of-the-art agricultural machinery.
Ibrahim also said that the company had benefited from six different development finance interventions of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the tune of N20 billion so far.
