The Imota rice mill is an agricultural plant in

Ikorodu Ikorodu is a city in Lagos State, Nigeria. It is located to the north-east of Lagos, along the Lagos Lagoon and shares boundary with Ogun State. With a population of over 1 million inhabitants, Ikorodu is currently the 12th largest city in Nig ...

, a suburb of

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. It was built in 2021 and was inaugurated in 2023 with the commencement of full production.

Description

The rice mill in Imota is 22 hectares big, with the mill itself occupying 8.5 hectares. It is regarded as the largest mill in Africa and the third largest mill in the world. The rice mill has a capacity to produce 2.8 million bags of 50 kg bags of

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

yearly, while generating 1,500 direct jobs and 254,000 indirect jobs. On completion, in line with the estimated installed infrastructure of the facility, the production capacity of the rice mill in Imota will set it among the largest in the world, and the largest in sub-Saharan Africa. It is an integrated mill with two warehouses and 16 silos (each with a capacity of 2,500 tonnes, 25 metres high, 40-year life). The mill operates in two lines that receive, pre-clean, boil, dry, sort, hull, polish and bag the rice. According to Demola Amure, senior partner, the mill is described as the "Rolls-Royce" of rice mills. The quality of the rice "will be second to none". Only local staff were used for the assembly.

Inauguration

On May 29, 2022, Ms Abisola Olusanya, the state Commissioner for Agriculture, assured that the Imota rice mill would be inaugurated "in 10 weeks" (which would be the first week of August 2022). ”Paddy is already there. (...) I can't ascertain the figure but what I know is that the silos are being filled right now with paddy. They are already tested running the equipment." Ms Olusanya said. In 2023,

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023. A retired Nigerian army major general, he was the military head of state of Nigeria from 31 December 1983 to 27 Augu ...

inaugurated the 32-metric tonnes per hour where he said the mill will support the rice revolution in

. According to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Rice mill is part of Buhari’s agricultural revolution aimed at localizing the production of rice. The governor also stated that the development is part of an effort by Lagos state to support the rice and food revolution in Nigeria.

Economic effect

According to Lagos State governor Sanwo-Olu, full production of the facility will drastically reduce prices of rice and pressure to purchase the commodity. At this moment (early 2022), Nigeria ''produces'' husk rice, yet ''imports'' hulled/polished rice at a higher price. Processing the national staple food rice in its own country therefore should improve Nigeria's trade balance.

Technical process

In a rice mill, primarily, the

cereal A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...

spelt Spelt (''Triticum spelta''), also known as dinkel wheat is a species of wheat. It is a relict crop, eaten in Central Europe and northern Spain. It is high in protein and may be considered a health food. Spelt was cultivated from the Neolit ...

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

oats The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural). Oats appear to have been domesticated as a secondary crop, as their seed ...

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...

and

are hulled, i.e. the

husk Husk (or hull) in botany is the outer shell or coating of a seed. In the United States, the term husk often refers to the leafy outer covering of an Ear (botany), ear of maize (corn) as it grows on the plant. Literally, a husk or hull includes t ...

s that are firmly attached to the grain and do not fall off during

threshing Threshing or thrashing is the process of loosening the edible part of grain (or other crop) from the straw to which it is attached. It is the step in grain preparation after reaping. Threshing does not remove the bran from the grain. History of ...

are removed (dehusking). The husks are indigestible for the human organism and would negatively influence the taste and chewing sensations. Furthermore, in a rice mill, the hulled cereal grains are usually also subsequently rolled ( oat flakes), cut (

groats Groats (or in some cases, "berries") are the hulled kernels of various cereal grains, such as oats, wheat, rye, and barley. Groats are whole grains that include the cereal germ and fiber-rich bran portion of the grain, as well as the endos ...

) or polished (

, rolled barley). Other possible processing steps are mostly identical to those in a

grain mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separate ...

Machinery

The machines are from Bühler, a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

company that is one of the world's leading manufacturers of rice processing technologies. The plant is fully automated. The rice is not touched until it is packed into bags. A local company
Henry Karll
installed the plant under the supervision of Bühler. They also train the operators. The project consultant
Faocon
Nigeria Ltd, ensures that all parties work together harmoniously. The water supply, treatment, filtration and reverse osmosis are being handled by a local company that has also worked for

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

Pepsi Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...

and

Nigerian Breweries Nigerian Breweries Plc, is the largest brewing company in Nigeria. It serves the Nigerian market and West Africa. History Early years The idea to establish a brewery in Lagos was first promoted by Frank Samuel of UAC before World War II. But ...

Surroundings

The State Government is also developing an industrial park adjacent to the mill. Governor Sanwo-Olu said the park would have amenities that would make businesses thrive and bring returns on investment to business owners.

Outlook

In order to facilitate a seamless supply of input for the facility, Lagos will undertake a backward integration strategy in the form of collaboration with other Nigerian states such as

Kwara Kwara () is a state in Western Nigeria, bordered to the east by Kogi State, to the north by Niger State, and to the south by Ekiti, Osun, and Oyo states, while its western border makes up part of the international border with Benin. Its capi ...

Sokoto Sokoto (Hausa language, Hausa: ; Fulfulde, Fula: , ''Leydi Sokoto'') is one of the 36 states of Nigeria, located in the extreme northwest of the country. It is bounded by Niger, Republic of the Niger to the north and west for 363 km (226 m ...

, Benue, Borno and Kebbi to meet the paddy requirement of the mill. The rice from Imota rice mill will go on sale in December 2022 under the trademark of "Eko rice". The price of a 50 kg bag of rice has increased from 32,000 Naira (64 US-Dollars) to 48,000 Naira (96 US-Dollars) in the second half of 2022, representing 50% inflation as many Nigerian rice farms have been flooded in October 2022.

References

{{reflist Ikorodu Agriculture in Nigeria