with his avowed committement to make Cross River state the rice hub of
Africa, the Cross River Seedling Factory has gone into full
production.
This came barely 24 hours after it was commissioned by President
Muhammadu Buhari.
This follows the receipt of orders from the Rice Farmers' Association
of Nigeria (RIFAN) amongst others.
Governor Ayade said order from RIFAN to supply its members the Cross
River vitamized Rice seedlings runs into billions of Naira.
Ayade said: "You can see that the President's directive has become
very clear and it is taking life already because Chairman of the
presidential Task force on Rice and Wheat Production, Senator Abubakar
Bagudu has comfirmed that they are ready to take off every quantity we
have got. So we have open order in excess of 2 billion Naira already."
President Buhari had during the commissioning of the project directed
relevant stakeholders in rice production to patronise the factory.
He applauded the governor for the initiative, saying Ayade has become
a reference point in his administration's agricultural revolution.
Buhari said the factory was a testament of his administrations' giant
strides in diversifying the economy and described the factory as "a
marvel to behold."
The President said, "When we assumed the reins of leadership of our
dear country, this administration launched a zero-oil economic roadmap
as a way of making our country less dependent on oil, while
encouraging investments in other sectors of the economy, particularly
agriculture.
"I am happy that Governor Ayade keyed into that policy and has today
become one of the reference points in our agricultural revolution."
The President said he was optimistic that the factory will create
employment and that the improved, high yield disease resistant seeds
and seedlings from the factory will double national yield and directed
relevant MDAs to partner with the factory through the CBN Anchor
Borrowers Program to supply seeds to farmers across the country.
The Nigerian leader expressed optimism about the future of the factory
saying, "what we expect is that Seedlings from this factory will
improve rice yield from the current national average of 3 to 4 tons
per hectare to about 9 to 10 tons per hectare, thus helping to ensure
rice sufficiency in the country and doing away with imports and saving
foreign exchange for Nigeria.
"The factory is also targeted at creating employment opportunities for
the unemployed, I have no doubt that this rice factory will also be a
veritable platform for income generation for the people of Cross River
State."
Buhari further stated federal government's determination to assist
Cross River fully achieve its potentials as number rice farmer in the
country.
"I therefore, enjoin relevant Federal Government Agencies such as the
Ministry of Agriculture and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), through
its Anchor Borrower's Programme, to partner with Cross River in the
area of supply of seedlings to our farmers.", he said.
The President praised Ayade for seeing the future and initiating
projects that will improve the economic base of the state.
Meanwhile, governor Ayade has reiterated his commitment to decouple
Cross River from over independence on federal allocation by
establishing income generating industries thus creating employement at
the same time.
According to the governor, plans are underway to also get President
Buhari to issue presidential directive on the Cross River Garment
Factory.
"We will in one way or the other get the President to focus on our
Garment Factory which was intended to capture the entire uniforms
market…imagine what it will translate to in terms of monetary value if
we begin to sew for all the paramilitaries including the National
Youth Service Corps", the governor said.
The Cross River state Rice Seeds and Seedlings factory is an automated
plant producing high yielding vitaminized and disease resistant rice
seeds and seedlings.
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