NIGERIA – The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has sensitized hundreds of rice millers in Kano on its requirement for third-party milling as part of its mission to improve lives through standardization and quality assurance.
Speaking at a one-day sensitization workshop, the Director General of the organisation, Farouk A. Salim, said the workshop was in line with the organization’s policy in promoting consumer confidence and global competitiveness of Nigerian products and services.
“We want to help these millers to improve their products to be up to standard, to raise the production standard and also the labelling by using the right machines. With that, we also ensure the products become accessible in the market and achieve recognition without having any problem in a manner any product one takes across the country will be accepted,” he said.
He noted that the organization currently has the technical support to guide the millers with certification so they can be able to meet both local consumption and export.
“When the product is up to standard, it will be easier to move it across the border,” he stated.
Salim said SON is working towards ensuring that the factories do not lose their products by using false machines while measuring the products and also to protect the customers.
“The whole essence of standardization is making the product acceptable to the market, and make it easier for the producers to produce without having any problem,” he said.
The Regional Director of SON, Mr. Albert Wilberforce, said that the event would enlighten farmers on what is expected of them when it comes to the issue of third-party rice milling.
Third-party milling is where farmers who don’t have a milling factory seek the services of other millers to manufacture their products.
Wilberforce indicated that such factories must be feasible and ensure the rice meets the certification requirements.
Declaring the workshop opened, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, represented by the Commissioner of Works, Alhaji Idris Wada Sale said the sensitization training was very timely, stressing that the agricultural revolution achieved by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is very commendable.
Responding on behalf of the trainees, Alhaji Shehu Musa, one of the small- and medium-scale industrialists, said the training would enhance his ability to improve product standardization.
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