WITH a population of over four million people, an ample market exists in Ondo State for the consumption of rice, which is a major staple in this part of the country. Beyond Ondo State, a ready market also exists for the consumption of rice, because Nigeria, whose population  exceeds 200 million has its citizens consume rice almost on daily basis. Apart from this, the market exists in the West Africa sub region for the use of rice, giving room for export of the product in event of a surplus in its production.

THE  Ondo State Government must have taken these factors into a consideration when it signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the La-RUTA Malaysia for the purpose of rice production and processing.

THE HOPE commends the Ondo State Government for this initiative, and we feel in the short and long term the state will benefit from the arrangement with La-RUTA. Though the final details of the Memorandum of Agreement haven’t been made public, our reasoning presupposes that the agreement between the state government and the Malaysian company involves the cultivation and processing of rice.

IN the recent past, Lagos and Kebbi States, aware of the complexities inherent in the rice business, partnered to bring into the market the Lake Rice, which proved highly successful in the short term. The success came because the partnership thrived in making a pragmatic use of the advantages of both states;  Kebbi endowed with a vast arable land suitable for the production of rice, Lagos possessing the capacity to process whatever was produced at its rice mills. In the same vein, the partnership between Ondo State and the Malaysian company would prove successful, as both parties would make use of their comparative advantages, with Ondo having vast arable land for the production of rice and the Malaysian partner having the technical know-how for the processing of the product.

A few years ago, the state government partnered with Africa Redcrest Nigeria towards the processing of rice, which led to the groundbreaking establishment of the Sunshine Rice Factory at Igbara-Oke in Ifedore Local Government Area. At the time, the partnership proposed a large-scale rice production plan with a target of covering 4,000 hectares by 2019 to serve the state in particular and the nation in general but the rest is history. With the new partnership with La-RUTA, the state government will be able to strengthen the Redcrest programme to achieve its ambition of putting Ondo State among the rice-producing states in the country.

NEEDLESS to say, lots of youths in the state suffer from the pangs of underemployment and unemployment, a condition occasioned by the economic recession battering the country for some time. Things have become so bad that youths are willing to engage in a gainful employment but are hampered by the challenge of scarcity of jobs, fueling youth restiveness and other social malaise.

OF course, the Malaysian partnership should erase some of the pressures many youths go through in these desperate times, by providing much-needed allowances for job creation as well as ensuring food security in the state. In terms of internally generated revenue, the partnership may lead to excess production of rice for both local and international markets, raising the possibility of exports and a decline in the capital flight involved with rice importation.

WITH such a development, the state could channel the profit from the exercise into other productive ventures, which could drastically increase its internally generated revenue. Buoyed by the increase in revenue, the state, unlike others in the country, would not have to go cap in hand to the federal government for money, and would also not depend on proceeds from the federation account to finance its projects.

SEEN from this context, The Hope endorses the partnership the state government forges with the Malaysian enterprise, as it could prove a win-win proposition for everyone concerned. Still, we implore the state government to think with the mindset of selling its rice products with an eye on the local and international markets, as such a disposition would ultimately create avenues for jobs and an increase in internally generated revenue.

AGRICULTURAL  officers should be proactive in ensuring the success of the partnership, as their input could prove valuable to the project, as they understand the agricultural terrain of the state. The state government should also go beyond mere planting of rice on its vast arable lands and strive to set up rice mills to process the product with a mind fixed on the profit motive. Finally, the state government should use the opportunity of the new partnership to strengthen the previous initiatives in commercial rice production and processing in the Sunshine State.