Date: 2012-01-26

The Kwara State Government on Thursday signed a N70 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Vasolar Consortium of Spain for the cultivation, processing and packaging of rice on a commercial scale in the State.
 
Under the agreement, the Consortium will provide a total capital of N70 billion over a period of four years while the State Government is expected to provide about Seven Million Euros and 20,000 hectares of land to kick-start the project.
 
Speaking at the signing ceremony at the Council Chambers of Government House, Ilorin, the State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed described the project as another giant step by his administration towards effective governance.
 
According to him, the new administration came in with a clear decision at inception to take advantage of the state's strengths in agriculture in the collective interest of the people.
 
Alhaji Ahmed, who solicited tariff reduction to stimulate local production of rice in the State, also asked the consortium to support the Shonga Commercial farming project facilitated by the last administration.
 
Kwara State, the governor said, was the first to embrace the value change management currently being canvassed in the Federal Government’s agricultural transformation agenda and pleaded for support in the areas of funding and irrigation to allow cropping farmers in the State to farm all-year-round.
 
Ahmed decried a situation where the country expends about N2.6 billion dollars on rice importation annually, saying if the huge amount was put into local cultivation of rice, a lot more economic transformation would be witnessed in the agriculture sector.
 
Expressing appreciation to the Royal Fathers for their support to the state government to develop agriculture into a commercial level, the governor said the desire to partner with Vasolar Consortium was because of its expertise in rice production.
 
In his opening remark, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Investment, Mr Yomi Ogunsola disclosed that the governor gave approval in October last year to commence discussion with the Consortium, adding that five thousand hectares of land would be allocated by government under the scheme with each module yielding about 40,000 tonnes annually per hectare.
 
Mr Ogunsola said the MoU will afford local rice farmers to go to Spain to seek foreign training and expertise to further assist them to improve their farm yields.
 
Earlier, the Chairman of Vasolar Consortium, Mr Niguel Gallando Marcias thanked the State government for the initiative and urged farmers in the State to imbibe modern agricultural techniques in the development of agriculture.
 
Galland Marcias, who appealed to Governor Ahmed to visit Spain to see what Vasolar is doing there, assured him of their commitment to the terms of the MoU.
 
Also speaking, the Group Managing Director of Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB), Mr Segun Agbaje expressed the commitment of his bank to the noble initiative and its readiness to partner with the state government to encourage import substitution, provide employment and development of infrastructure.

26/01/2012