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…says it took almost twenty years of doggedness
By Olivia Obijiaku
The Procurator of the Catholic Diocese of Zaria and the Director of CATHDIZA Integrated Farms Nigeria Limited Very Rev Fr. Michael Kagarko has narrated how part of a formally non-profit making organization which started in 2001 shortly after the creation of the Catholic Diocese of Zaria has been developed into a Modern Rice Mill Factory.
Giving the information at the commissioning of the factory which took place in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Pastoral Centre, Graceland Zaria on Thursday, 28th April 2022, the clergyman explained that the acronym CATHDIZA means Catholic Diocese of Zaria and that the vision is aimed at minimizing poverty and food insecurity in Zaria and its environs for a better and greater Nigerian society.
Fr. Kagarko shows dignitaries round the former parboiling section of the factory
“Our mission is to engage, train, employ and empower the less privileged to become self-sufficient.” The director disclosed. “To work at full capacity and live more meaningful lives with the use of all available valuable networks of persons, expertise and institutions within our reach. CATHDIZA Integrated Farms Nigeria Limited took a gradual transformation process and metamorphosed into a limited liability company without losing sight and focus of its aim of empowering the less privileged – women and youth, especially widows and orphans, irrespective of religion, denomination and tribe. It took many turns and enduring period of experimentation and conscious development of human capacity of about two decades in the area of agriculture before CATHDIZA Integrated Farms Nigeria Limited eventually became a legal entity on 30th January, 2020. From a rudimentary rice milling process for three good years, CATHDIZA Integrated Farms Nigeria Limited has transformed to the use of modern milling machines.”
Based on the articles of the operations of the Company, the Farms engage in all types of farming; storage of cold farm produce and provide the required facilities such as storage bins, silos and depots; manufacture and deal in agro-allied equipment and supplies, including but not limited to farm implements and machinery, fertilizers, agro and livestock feed as well as the preservation and processing of farm and agricultural produce and products; carry on any or all of the businesses of agriculture, agro-business research, publishing, agricultural and environmental service, irrigation, training and organizing empowerment programs; and borrow or raise money in such manner as the company deem fit.