A technical team from South Korea has completed the installation of modern rice processing mills in Bayelsa State.
The state-of-the-art mills, capable of processing 40 metric tonnes of rice paddies per day, were installed at the state-owned School-to-Land Farm in Yenagoa, the state capital, on Saturday.
Following the mills’ demonstration, Mr Byung Chul Son, Managing Director of Delta Sung Machinery and delegation leader, addressed the newsmen concerning collaborative efforts with the Bayelsa State Ministry of Agriculture.
He explained that since their arrival, the team had been actively engaged in training ministry staff.
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Son said the training encompassed a range of crucial skills for rice production, from soil preparation and land irrigation to rice cultivation and the operation of the new milling equipment.
Son said that the mills would significantly refine rice production in the state.
He also noted that additional farming machinery, such as dryers, parboilers, and colour selectors, would be needed to fully utilise the capacity of the new milling machines.
Bayelsa State Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Prof. Beke Sese, clarified that the South Korean government donated four rice mill units, each with a 10-tonne daily production capacity.
“What we had was a three-tonne per day rice mill. With the four units of 10 tonnes per day, we now have a combined 40 tonnes per day rice production capacity.
“That means there will be an exponential increase in our rice production towards meeting our target of one million tonnes of rice production annually,” he said.
A four-member Korean delegation also visited Gov. Douye Diri at his country home in Sampou, Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area.
Diri expressed his gratitude to the Korean government for the donation of the rice mills, farming tractors, and technical support.
He affirmed his administration’s commitment to strengthening bilateral relations with Korea in agriculture.
“Bayelsa has huge potential for rice cultivation, yet we purchase rice.
“As a government, we decided to engage with the immediate past Korean Ambassador to Nigeria, and he placed Bayelsa under the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) programme, which supports sustainable development in developing countries.
“We are now benefiting from this partnership in terms of the provision of farming equipment such as rice mills and technical assistance,” the governor stated.
Diri outlined his government’s vision of making Bayelsa a hub for rice production and urged the Korean engineers to explore providing further technical support in training local engineers to manufacture tractors and other farming equipment.
He emphasised that this would significantly contribute to realizing the vision of producing rice commercially for both local consumption and export.
