RIFAN signs MoU with firm to export rice to Egypt

Abubakar Yunusa Abuja

The Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) says it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tiamin Rice Limited to export quality rice.

According to NAN, Aliyu Ibrahim, deputy managing director of Tiamin Rice Company, disclosed this in a statement issued in Abuja.

Ibrahim said the initiative was aimed at the cultivation of quality rice paddy by RIFAN while Tiamin processes and packages with state-of-the-art milling technology for sale locally and internationally, particularly to Egypt.

He said the MoU, which would be operational for two years, was signed at the company’s 600-metric tonnes per hour capacity mill in Bauchi state.

“RIFAN and Tiamin share a common agenda in the area of rice farming and milling,” the statement reads.

“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.”

Ibrahim said the company also has a 10,000-hectare rice farm in Udubo, Bauchi State.

According to him, large-scale wet and dry season farming takes place on the farm with state-of-the-art agricultural machinery.

Ibrahim said the company has benefited from six different development finance interventions of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

He said the interventions were worth over N20 billion, adding that the company had successfully repaid four of the intervention funds.

Ibrahim said Tiamin Rice was the first corporate entity to access funds from the private sector-led accelerated agricultural development scheme (P-AADS) under the CBN initiative.