BAYELSA STATE GETS BOOST IN RICE PRODUCTION AS SOUTH KOREA INSTALLS MODERN RICE PROCESSING MILLSBayelsa State has made a significant milestone in its quest to be a major rice producer in Nigeria and the West African subregion. This is with the installation of modern rice processing mills in bayelsa as part of bilateral relationships between the state and a technical team from the Republic of South Korea.
In a statement made available to Capital Times News, the Chief Press Secretary to the Bayelsa State Governor, Dan Alabra, said the installation of the state-of-the-art mills, with a capacity to process 40 metric tonnes of rice paddies per day, was completed at the state-owned School-to-Land Farm in Yenagoa, the state capital. The leader of the Korean delegation, Mr. Byung Chul Son revealed that the team has worked closely with the state Ministry of Agriculture to train staff in various aspects of rice cultivation and production.
According to Daniel Alabrah, the Bayelsa State Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Prof. Beke Sese explained that the South Korean government donated four units of rice mills with a production capacity of 10 tonnes per day each. Prof. Sese stated, “What we had was a three-tonne per day rice mill. With the four units of 10 tonnes per day, we now have a combined 40 tonnes per day rice production mills. That means there will be an exponential increase in our rice production towards meeting our target of one million tonnes of rice production annually.”
Governor Douye Diri expressed his gratitude to the Korean government for donation and technical support. The governor emphasized the state’s commitment to strengthening its bilateral relationship with the Korean government in the area of agriculture. He noted, “Bayelsa has huge potential for rice cultivation, and yet we purchase rice. As a government, we decided to engage with the immediate past Korean ambassador to Nigeria, and he put Bayelsa under the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) programme that supports sustainable development in developing countries.”
Daniel Alabrah quoted Governor Diri as saying, “So we are now benefiting from this partnership in terms of provision of farming equipment such as rice mills and technical assistance.” The governor urged the Korean engineers to explore the possibility of providing more technical support in training the state’s engineers to manufacture tractors and other farming equipment.