Olam’s agricultural initiative to produce 16,000 tons of rice

Olam Nigeria, a major agricultural products processor, said on Monday that its local rice production initiative would yield 16,000 tons annually, using a model endorsed by the Rockefeller Foundation.

Ade Adefeko, the head of corporate relations of the company, said in a statement in Ibadan that the model would ensure the realisation of the company’s 16,000 out-grower target by 2018.

Adefeko also said that the company had partnered with the West African Rice Development Association to test the new varieties of high-yield rice. The statement said the rice farm initiative would be implemented in two phases in Nasarawa State.

It said that out-growers would make up around 90 percent of the workforce, with more than half of the beneficiaries as women, once the farm became fully operational.

“A central commercial farm of 10,000 hectares acts as the ‘nucleus’, already providing employment to the local community of rice farmers.

“By the end of 2014, these small-holders and others will be able to participate in an ‘out-grower’ scheme, whereby Olam will buy their rice at prevailing market prices.

“This would translate into an increase in average yield per small-holder of over 100 percent, once agricultural inputs and the new techniques learned from the nucleus farm are applied.