United States Supports Kebbi For Increased Rice Production

<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>United States partners Kebbi in rice<&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that at a May 19 ceremony&comma; U&period;S&period; Ambassador Mary Beth Leonard joined Kebbi State Executive Governor Senator Abubakar Bagudu and private and public-sector stakeholders committed to ensuring food security in Nigeria to launch a new co-investment partnership between the USAID-funded West Africa Trade &amp&semi; Investment Hub and the indigenous firm WACOT Rice&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The partnership promises to improve the livelihoods of smallholder rice farmers in the country&comma; whose success is crucial to feeding a burgeoning population&period; Rice is a major staple in Nigeria&comma; but production and supply in Kebbi State&comma; a major producer of rice&comma; has suffered a setback because of the COVID-19 pandemic&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In response&comma; the Trade Hub awarded the &dollar;1&period;48 million co-investment grant&comma; which will allow WACOT to add 5&comma;000 additional smallholder rice farmers into its special Argungu Rice Outgrower Expansion Project launched to increase local production&period; The co-investment will create thousands of new jobs&comma; increase yields by more than 50 percent&comma; and help farmers earn more&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In her remarks&comma; Ambassador Leonard highlighted the importance of partnering with the private sector to develop sustainable solutions to improve food security&comma; reduce poverty&comma; and create jobs&comma; particularly for women&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We know the challenges faced by women farmers in owning lands and accessing finances and inputs &&num;8212&semi; despite women being key to making a significant impact for future generations&comma;” the Ambassador said&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We hope this activity will improve the livelihoods of women farmers and their families in Kebbi State&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Joining Ambassador Leonard and the Governor at the event were Rahul Savara&comma; Group Managing Director for Tropical General Investments&comma; the parent company of WACOT Rice and other notable stakeholders&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Feed the Future is the U&period;S&period; government’s global hunger and food security initiative and works hand-in-hand with partner countries to develop their agriculture sectors&period; In Nigeria&comma; Feed the Future focuses on modernizing practices and improving the livelihood of smallholder farmers in five value chains&colon; maize&comma; rice&comma; soy&comma; cowpea&comma; and aquaculture&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>WACOT Rice operates a state-of-the-art rice mill in <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;thisdaylive&period;com&sol;">Argungu<&sol;a>&period; The mill is one of the largest rice mills in Africa and sources unprocessed rice from across the country&period; WACOT also engages farmers who produce and supply rice to boost their yields and guarantees off-take of unprocessed rice from farmers through buyback arrangements&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;