Kogi Confluence Rice: A hi-tech innovation rice production in Nigeria
Confluence Rice can proudly be accorded the eighth wonder of the world and probably the number one of such wonders in Nigeria; a world-class rice meal that started and completed within two years – 2017-2019 with all modern facilities and machineries in place and well ready for production within the limited time.
Such timing is only achievable in Nigeria with high level of discipline and determination of the stakeholders and optimum support and appropriate funding by the government and the stakeholders that be; the exact elements that put up this Confluence Rice wonder in Kogi State.
A rice plant with its own hybrid rice plantation of over 800 hectares within the same neighbourhood of the mill at Ejiba, Yagba West Local Government area of Kogi State. Working at production of 50 tonnes of finished product per shift, to make 100 tonnes per day at start; with the sole aim of putting rice on everybody’s table in Nigeria at such an unprecedented affordable cost.
Confluence Rice is a major agricultural project initiative of the incumbent government of Kogi state under the leadership of His Excellency, Governor Yahaya Bello, in collaboration with Agri Integrated Services Africa Limited, a leading international organisation made up of Agriculture Experts and Resource Managers. The rice mill is the second largest in Nigeria with quite so large expanse of rice plantation land which practically could be driven through with not less than 46 minutes at 50km/hr, to and fro.
While responding to a pertinent question on the quality of the final products from the gigantic rice mill, the Project Supervisor, Mr. Oluwadamilare Shodunke, said with all confidence that there could not be any difference from the presently imported rice and Confluence Rice because the highly sophisticated machineries which are put in place at the rice mill are of different sorts and categories with different work specifications. He is quoted as saying “This is an international standard rice but made in Nigeria and not local as people may think. We have machine that separates anything stones or stony objects; we have machine that picks brown rice, I mean the machine that separates colours (colour separator), so you cannot see any brownish rice in the finally packaged bags; we have machine that polishes rice for final packaging…”.
Every scepticism was laid to rest on the 17th September, 2019, with the eventual inspection visit to the site of the rice factory by the Kogi state Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, whose presence was greeted with pomp and circumstance by the teeming admirers and the entire community of Ejiba and Yagba West Local Government where the rice mill is located. The Governor, while speaking at the epoch making event, emphasized the fact that Confluence Rice has come to stay and the commercial production for the public purchase would start immediately after the official commissioning of the Rice mill by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Alhaji Mohammodu Buhari, GCFR in less than a month time.
He said with all confidence that the plant would rescue not less than 5000 youths from the pang of unemployment going forward; he also went further to promise that his government, in the bid to create more jobs, would not relent in encouraging such outstanding development in the state. He later encouraged his well wishers and admirers in the state to come out en mass come 16th November, 2019 and vote him one more time for the good work to continue. The Governor couldn’t forget in a jiffy, the commendable feats of the major partner organisation on the project – Agri Integrated Services Africa Limited under the leadership of Dr. Olusegun Okeowo and Mr. Olusegun Olonade, the Chairman and the MD respectively.
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