The Ondo State government, Monday, announced the sale of its own rice product branded as Golden Sun Rice and L’ondo.
Announcing the development in an interview with journalists in Akure, Ondo State, the Senior Special Assistant to the State Governor on Agriculture and Agribusiness, Pastor Akin Olotu said the product has hit the market with a projection to flood the state with 165,000 bags of ten kg.
He said that the production of the branded rice which began late last year is now fast selling in the market and has earned the state a loan of ₦91 million from the Central Bank of Nigeria to boost production.
Olotu attributed the delay in processing to logistics, adding that the problem has been solved.
He said: “The rice is out but it came late. Primarily, it has to do with logistics. We had problem with the destoner because we don’t want the rice to have stone at all and we believe we should come with stone – free rice before pushing it to the market.
“Again, we had challenges with BEDC but we have overcome that. The destoner we are using presently is slow and the one we got from Abuja is not destoning properly. We said okay let’s be using the small one while we work frantically on how we get a better destoner.
“And the governor has given us the assurance that we should go ahead and get the best. We are receiving continuous support from Mr Governor.”
Olotu further disclosed that government is organising a training on drone application, and farmers will be trained on using the equipment to apply herbicide on rice.
According to him, the governor has approved the training adding that it will be in two batches.
He said with the equipment, climatic information will be given to farmers on daily basis and if the rice is deficient in any elements, it will be revealed.