A U. S.-based company, Masilo, is to establish a 150-million-dollar cassava processing mill in Kwara, Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed said on Tuesday.

Ahmed disclosed this when he received the Managing Director of Diamond Bank, Dr Alex Oti, who paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House in Ilorin.

He said that the mill, when operational, would process cassava into various products for both local consumption and export.

He said that the state government has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with another foreign company toward establishing a rice processing mill in the state.

According to him, the rice farming and processing company will require about 20 hectares of land.

The governor said that the project would cost both the government and the foreign partner N70 billion over the next five years.

He reiterated the determination of the government toward the transformation of the state's economy and job creation through agricultural revolution.

Ahnmed said that the government had embarked on the enumeration of farmers in the state and grouped them into cooperative societies, to enable them to support big companies to drive the agro-based business in the state.

According to the governor, the formation of farmers cooperatives will enable them to serve as "out-growers" to the big commercial farmers who utilise use of their produce.

Ahmed assured the management of commercial banks in the state of the readiness of government to partner with them to develop the economy, especially agriculture and entrepreneurship scheme.

Earlier, Oti had lauded the effort of the governor on commercial farming.

He said that the purpose of his visit was to explore areas of collaboration with the government on it various developmental programmes.