Stallion Popular Farms and Mills Limited is targeting an annual increase in locally farmed rice from 450,000 metric tons to 1.5 million metric tons annually, using integrated rice value chain and enhanced milling activities.
Hapreet Singh, group director, Stallion Popular Farms and Mills Limited, said this in Abuja while receiving the ‘Inside Business Commendation Award’ (IBCA) for ‘Outstanding Projects and Business Leaders of the Year Award’ conferred on the company for its role in integrated rice value chain and enhanced local rice production, 10 years since it began farming activities in Nigeria.
He said: “We owe this accomplishment to President Muhammadu Buhari’s leadership aptitudes and agribusiness agenda as well as the minister of agriculture’s agrarian backward integration initiative.
“Popular Farms and Mills Limited would leverage on the impulse provided by the Federal Government through its transformation agenda to increase local rice production to 1.5 million tons from 430,000 metric tons annually.
Singh also thanked IBCA for creating a platform to acknowledge real positive change makers in the agric sector, where Popular Farms and Mills was distinguished as outstanding projects and business leaders of the year.
Former Economic Summit chairman and chief executive of Inside Business Magazine, Sam Ohuabunwa, who presented the award, applauded Popular Farms and Mills for displaying demonstrative commitment towards Federal Government’s concerted agenda in rice production.
Ohuabunwa said, “You have not only supported the country’s agrarian objective for self-sufficiency in rice production but also worked tirelessly with local governments to ensure food security.”
A farm division of Stallion conglomerate, Popular Farms and Mills Limited produces premium varieties of rice from locally farmed paddy, which are branded as Royal Stallion Shinkafa, Tomato Aroso and Super Champion.
Stallion has established integrated agricultural operations such as world-class rice mills at strategic locations to promote milling and paddy cultivation in captive areas to make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice production, the Stallion director said.
He said the company’s vision was to preserve and enhance rice production in Nigeria by ensuring genetic integrity of seeds, encourage scientific agricultural practices and promote world-class processing techniques to emerge as industry benchmark for product quality.
Popular Farms and Mills has consequently established collection centres across rice producing states in Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Niger, Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi to not only help farmers embrace modern farming techniques but also focus on distributing farm inputs through farmers cooperatives and associations to ensure rice revolution in Nigeria.
The agrarian establishment also promises to safeguard timely provision of certified seeds, fertilizers, advisory irrigation and crop management as well as buys back mechanism to help farmers get good and profitable yields especially during harvest.
IBCA – Outstanding Projects and Business Leaders of the Year Award is an initiative of Inside Business Magazine in recognition of remarkable contributions to economic growth and sustainable development.
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