BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

PORT HARCOURT – FEDERAL Government is to stop importation of rice for local consumption by 2015, says Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina.

The Minister spoke, weekend, in Rivers State during a tour of Notore Industrial Complex, Onne. He said the government had evolved measures to ensure that the nation’s food security would not be at risk. He said by 2015, the country would have grown sufficient rice for local consumption.

He said part of the transformation plan of the Federal Government was to focus on the whole value chain in agriculture, adding that the government would also grow the seed sector of the country.

The Minister who expressed satisfaction with Notore plant, said he was hopeful that with what he saw at the plant, the country would hit 600,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer for  local consumption.

He said the Federal Government had resolved that agriculture would no longer be a mere project but a sector to be heavily invested in, stressing that with sufficient fertilizers in place farmers would grow better yields in the country.
Earlier, Managing Director, Notore Chemical Industries Limited, Mr Onajite Okoloko, said the firm will soon hit 50 percent  production of fertilizer needed locally.