Assessment of rice processing operations in Ekiti State, Nigeria

An investigation survey was carried out to examine factors affecting processing and quality of rice in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Nine major towns were selected from six Local Government Areas involved in rice production in the State. A structured questionnaire was used to collect information from three hundred (300) rice processors. Findings revealed that 47% of the processors were males and 53% are females, 66.7% of the processors have family size ranged within 4 to 7 persons, 63.78% of them have only primary education and 22.67% have no formal education, 70% of rice is gotten from middle men and 80% of the processors used their personal savings as capitals. 70% of the milling machines used was obsolete being single pass type characterized with high broken grains and 90% of the processors depend on diesel engines to power the mills while 7% had access to good storage facilities. None of the processors had accesses to a rice destoner. The result obtained is used to improve the processing deficiency of rice in Ekiti State. Key words: Rice processing; milling machines; rice processors; storage facilities; power sourc