By Mfonobong Nsehe

Nigerian business mogul Cosmas Maduka, one of Nigeria’s most successful businessmen, has built a rice processing mill in Anambra, a state in Nigeria’s southeastern region, at a reported cost of $35 million.

According to a report by ThisDay, the rice mill which was constructed by Coscharis Farms, a subsidiary of the Cosharis Group which Maduka controls, was officially launched last Tuesday at a ceremony in Anambra attended by Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele and various Nigerian state governors.

The first phase of the rice mill which has a milling capacity of 40,000 MT per annum was launched on Tuesday, but the entire project is expected to have an annual milling capacity of 120,000 MT when completed by the end of 2020 according to a press statement by Maduka.

Coscharis Farms Limited, a subsidiary of Coscharis Group, is an integrated rice processor that started operations in 2014 to meet part of the estimated 5.9 million MT annual rice demand in Nigeria. Coscharis Farms currently has close to 3,000 hectares of land for rice cultivation in Anambra and an irrigation system on its farm to enable multi‐cycle rice cultivation. Coscharis Farms has a robust farmer out‐grower development programme within Anambra State, and its environs that aims to reach thousands of farmers that could provide rice paddy to its mill when completed.

“We want to process paddy harvested from our farm into best quality rice. We want to contribute significantly to the government’s efforts to ensure food sufficiency through local production of rice. In addition, we want to set the pace for production of best quality local rice that will cause our people to change their preference from imported rice to locally milled rice which is known to be rich with important nutrients,” Maduka said at the launch of the rice mill.

Nigerians consume more than 5 million metric tons of rice every year, with a significant portion of its consumption needs sourced from imports.

Cosmas Maduka, 60, is the founder of Coscharis Group, one of Nigeria’s largest privately-owned conglomerates with businesses and interests that span across various sectors of the Nigerian economy: car dealerships, foods & beverages, engineering and agriculture.