(Ecofin Agency) - Nigeria hopes to conclude negotiations with China in relation to the import of material required for the implementation of 40 rice mills. According to agriculture’s new minister, each of these mills will have a daily processing capacity of 100 tons and these infrastructures will be established throughout the country.

Audu Ogbeh explained that the implementation of this project which was inherited from the previous administration, will contribute to achieve the 2018 target set by the new government for rice self-sufficiency.

Experts however wonder if the new heads of Nigeria’s agriculture will succeed where the team led by Akinwumi Adesina, African Development Bank’s current president, failed despite an ambitious rice policy.

Nigeria which produced 3 million tons of rice last year still remains one of the major importers of the grain. Overall, the country injects $20 billion annually for its food imports.

Aaron Akinocho