The Lagos State Government says its indigenous rice called ‘Lake Rice’ would be available in markets before the year ends at  N12,000 per bag.

Mr Okanlawon Sanni, the Special Adviser to Gov. Akinwumi Ambode on Food Security, made the assertion while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos.

Sanni told NAN that though the commodity was not available in the markets now, efforts were being made to ensure its availability to buyers during the Yuletide.

“The Lake Rice is not in the market for now but any moment from now, it will arrive from Kebbi and Lagosians will have enough of it during the festive period for N12, 000. The rice will be available at all local government areas across Lagos and in designated centres, retail markets and super stores,” he said.

“The state government had taken stocks of the equipment for the up calling of the Imota rice mill and that the installation will commence soon. One of the areas we are looking at to ensure all year round availability of the commodity is to build our mill. The equipment have arrived and installation will commence in earnest because that is the only way we can address the hiccups experienced in the supply chain of the commodity,” Sanni said.

NAN reports that the Lagos State Government had said it subsidised LAKE Rice to the tune of N1.049 billion from December 2016 till date, as part of efforts aimed at sustaining food sufficiency and food security.

During his annual Ministerial Press Briefing to mark the third anniversary of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s administration, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Oluwatoyin Suarau, said that LAKE Rice, which was being sold at a highly subsidised rate of N12,000 per bag of 50kg, had helped to crash the skyrocketing price of rice in the country.

“The government has subsidised LAKE Rice under this review period with over N1 billion. This is targeted toward ensuring food sustainability and food security in the state and as an end result, making Lake Rice a national brand,’’ he said.

Suarau explained that the subsidy included cost of transportation, bagging and difference in cost price of the rice from other brands.

He added that 150 marketers and other ancillary service providers had been empowered through the sale of LAKE Rice.

LAKE Rice is being produce from the partnership venture between Lagos State and Kebbi governments whereby, Kebbi produces the paddy and Lagos mills the rice.

NAN also reports that it is estimated that the partnership, which began in March 2016, will facilitate the creation of 274,000 jobs across the agriculture value chain.

It will also bring about the cultivation of 32,000 hectares of farm land to produce rice paddy, equating to an estimated 130 million kilogrammes of processed rice per year which is an equivalent of 2.6 million 50kg bags of rice,’’ he said. (NAN)