A PROPOSED RICE MILL WITH EMPHASIS TO CIRCULATION PATTERN

AT OGUN STATE, NIGERIA.

ODULAJA OLUWASEYI IDOWU

016/2893

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
COLLEGE OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES,
CALEB UNIVERSITY, IMOTA LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA.

JUNE, 2020
 CALEB UNIVERSITY, IMOTA
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE

A PROPOSED RICE MILL WITH EMPHASIS TO CIRCULATION PATTERN

AT OGUN STATE, NIGERIA.

BY

ODULAJA OLUWASEYI IDOWU

016/2893

A PROJECT WRITTEN AND SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF

ARCHITECTURE, COLLEGE OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES, IN PARTIAL
FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTERS
OF SCIENCE (MSc) DEGREE IN ARCHITECTURE OF CALEB UNIVERSITY,
IMOTA LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA.

JUNE, 2020

ii
 DECLARATION
I, Odulaja Oluwaseyi, do hereby declare that the work in the thesis entitled A
PROPOSED RICE MILL WITH EMPHASIS TO CIRCULATION PATTERN AT
OGUN STATE, NIGERIA has been performed by me in the Department of Architecture
under the supervision of Arc. L. Dada, Dr. D. Abel and Arc. E. Opaluwa.
The information derived from the literature has duly been acknowledged in the text and a
list of references provided. No part of this thesis was previously presented for another
degree or diploma at any university or institution.

Odulaja I. Oluwaseyi ____________________ ___________________

Name of student Signature Date

iii
 CERTIFICATION
We certify that this research work was carried out by Odulaja Oluwaseyi in the
Department of Architecture, College of Post Graduate studies, Caleb University, Imota,
Lagos. The research work is considered adequate in partial fulfilment of the requirements
for the award of Masters of Science (M.Sc)

Arc. L. Dada ______________________

Project Supervisor (Signature)

______________________
Date

Dr. O. Dare-Abel ______________________

Head of Department (Signature)

______________________
Date

Prof. Nosa Owens-Ibie ______________________

Dean of COPOS (Signature)

______________________
Date

______________________ ______________________
External Examiner (Signature)

______________________
Date

iv
 DEDICATION
This research is dedicated to the Almighty God, all my Siblings: Odulaja Olushola,
Kehinde, Taiwo and Segun, my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Odulaja, and Onamade Akintunde.
May this work inspire you to aim for greater heights.

v
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
My appreciation goes first to the Almighty God, the Beginning and the end for the grace
and inspiration, strength, sufficiency and the provisions for all I needed to complete this
project.
This project would really not have seen the light of day without the encouragement and
wise suggestions of my supervisors Arc. L. Dada, Arc. E. Opaluwa and Dr. Dare Abel for
your support, wisdom and patience, I am very grateful. I would also like to acknowledge
my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Odulaja for their constant support, a listening ear, and always a
shoulder to cry on when things got quite challenging. I love and appreciate you.
To my siblings Olusegun, Olushola, Taiwo and Kehinde, I really appreciate you all for
your unrelenting moral supports through the periods.
I would like to appreciate my friends Onamade Akintunde, Jokogbola Nofisat, Kehinde
Ukomadu and Taiwo Ukomadu and Amaluzor Samson, who have helped me from
inception to conclusion of this project, May God Almighty reward you all.
To all my lecturers, I will forever appreciate your efforts in trying to impart your
knowledge into us. Your words of wisdom have been indispensable. I appreciate
everyone who has contributed in one way or the other to the success of this project but
could not be mentioned due to the constraint of space, I appreciate you no less. Your
labour of love will not go unrewarded.

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 ABSTRACT
The demand for rice sales and consumption in Nigeria has been on an increase due to
increasing population, urbanization and changing consumer preferences. The resulting
effect has been increased importation of rice into the country, since there is hardly any
tribe or state where it is being consumed consequently straining foreign exchange
accounts due to the limitation of diversification of the economy other than crude oil. At
the moment, Nigeria is not looking at lifting off the ban placed on the importation of rice
since 2016 from Benin and from Thailand. However, the local production output makes
about 5million metric tonnes, which still falls short for the estimated demand of the 9.5
million metric tonnes of rice from her over 200 million citizens, relying on the remaining
4.5million metric tonnes from importation. New rice varieties that are high yielding have
been introduced in the country to improve national supply, save wetlands, fight food
insecurity and improve the incomes of the citizens.
This study was conducted in South Western Nigeria, Ogun state to be specific. It
examined whether the Rice mills were technically efficient in input use of technology to
generate the required output levels considering its circulation pattern through its
production processes from the intake stage to final output. This is achieved by proposing
an environmentally sustainable and energy efficient building using the principles of
circulation which ultimately will require less energy as well as the incorporation of the
natural elements thereby conserving the natural life cycle of rice. This project spells out
how much the building industry has great impact on rice production and the environment.
Due to the long hours of operation of the facility, energy is bound to be greatly
consumed, but within the proposal is how through proper circulation pattern, energy
efficiency can be conserved, renewed and reused to attain maximum output year in year
out. Respondents however, were randomly selected using a sampling frame generated
online and as well case studies. For the efficiency of rice processing to meet demands,
time and labor-saving technologies need to be introduced along with improved
management practices, resistance to biotic and abiotic stress for workers and staff,
composite packaging of rice and notably, tackling these problems through architecture by
embracing circulation through all the spaces and facilities in the design.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cover ………………………………………………… i
Title Page ………………………………………………… ii
Declaration ………………………………………………… iii
Certification ………………………………………………… iv
Dedication ………………………………………………… v
Acknowledgement ………………………………………………… vi
Abstract ………………………………………………… vii
Table of Content ………………………………………………… viii
List of Tables ………………………………………………… xi
List of Figures ………………………………………………… xii
List of Plates ………………………………………………… xiii
Appendices ………………………………………………… xiv
Definition of Terms ………………………………………………… xvi
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introduction ………………… 1
1.1 Background of Study ………………… 1
1.2 Problem Statement ………………… 5
1.3 Research Objectives ………………… 6
1.4 Scope of the Study ………………… 6
1.5 Justification of the Study ………………… 8

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 World Production and International Trade in Rice ………………… 9
2.2 Circulation in the Design of Space ………………… 9
2.3 Circulation as A Factors in Determining Layout and Design ………………… 11
2.4 Circulation as A Key Development Factor in Rice Production ………………… 14
2.4.1 Components of Circulation ………………… 15
2.5 Factors Affecting Market Supply ………………… 16
2.6 Economic Importance of Rice ………………… 18

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2.7 Effect of Layout Planning on The Status of Rice Production ………………… 18
2.8 Traditional Versus Modern Rice Processing ………………… 20
2.8.1 Major Constraints to Rice Production and Processing ………………… 21

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction ………………… 28
3.2 Description of the Study Area ………………… 28
3.3 Methods of Data Collection ………………… 29
3.3.1 Analytical Techniques ………………… 29
3.4 Production Activities and Rice Milling ………………… 31
3.5 Data Analysis and Presentation ………………… 32
3.6 Limitation of the Methodology ………………… 33

CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Selection and Methodology ………………… 34
4.2 Case Study One: IBK Rice Mill, Ita-Alapo, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. ………… 35
4.2.1 Background Information ………………… 35
4.2.2 Facilities ………………… 36
4.2.3 Major Facilities ………………… 38
4.3. Case Study Two: Zuru Rice Mill, Kebbi State, Nigeria ………………… 40
4.3.1 Background Information ………………… 40
4.3.2 Major Facilities ………………… 40
4.4. Case Study Three: T.K Rice Mill and Ash Co. Ltd ………………… 44
4.4.1 Background Information ………………… 44
4.4.2 Facilities ………………… 45

CHAPTER FIVE: DESIGN REPORT

5.1 The Site ………………… 49
5.1.2 Site Selection Criteria ………………… 49
5.1.3 Site Location ………………… 50
ix
5.1.4 Site Analysis ………………… 51
5.1.5 Site Conceptual Development ………………… 52
5.2. Design Brief ………………… 53
5.3 Brief Formulation ………………… 57
5.3.1 Design Considerations ………………… 57
5.3.2 Adjacencies and Criteria Matrix ………………… 58
5.3.3 Site Planning and Landscaping ………………… 59
5.3.4 Spatial Organization ………………… 60
5.3.5 Form and Elevations ………………… 61
5.3.6 Building Form and Architectural Expression ………………… 62

CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION AND COMMENDATIONS

6.1 General Inference ………………… 63
6.2 Contribution of the Study to Knowledge ………………… 63
6.3 Recommendation ………………… 64

REFERENCES ………………… 66

x
 LIST OF TABLES
Table 1.1 Rice Milling Flow Chart and Explanation …… 4
Table 1.2 Some of the Rice Processing and Packaging Mill in Nigeria …… 7
Table 4.1: Descriptions of Architectural Variables at IBK Rice Mill, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun
State …… 39
Table 4.2: Assessment of the Principles of Circulation Design Principle of IBK Rice Mill,
Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State …… 39
Table 4.3: Descriptions of Architectural Variables at Zuru Rice Mill. Kebbi state,
Nigeria. …… 43
Table 4.4: Assessment of the Principles of Circulation Design Principle of Zuru Rice
Mill. Kebbi State, Nigeria. …… 44
Table 4.5: Descriptions of Architectural Variables at Zuru Rice Mill. Kebbi State,
Nigeria. …… 48
Table 4.6: Assessment of the Principles of Circulation Design Principle of Zuru Rice
Mill. Kebbi State, Nigeria. …… 48
Table 5.1: Site Selection Criteria Table …… 50
Table 5.2: Design Considerations …… 57

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 LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1 Flow Diagram of a Modern Rice Mill 5
Figure 1.2 Rice Processing and Packaging Concentration Map in Nigeria 7
Fig. 2.1 Circulation of Interior of Polak Building by Paul de Ruiter Architects 10
Fig. 2.2 Federal Center South Building 1202 by ZGF Architects 10
Fig. 2.3 Centre Georges Pompidou, France 11
Fig. 2.4. Product Layout Diagram 13
Fig. 2.5 Circulation Flow through a Building 15
Figure 2.6: Rice Milling Capacity Shares by Miller Type in Nigeria 22
Figure 2.7 Total Milled Rice Output in Wet and Dry Seasons in Nigeria 23
Figure 3.1 Rice Producing Local Government Areas in Ogun State 28
Figure 4.1: Location of IBK Rice Mill, Ita Alapo, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. 35
Figure 4.2 Ground Floor Plan of IBK Rice Mill 36
Figure 4.3: Site Plan of Zuru Rice Mill 40
Figure 4.4: Site Ariel View of T.K Rice Mill and Ash Co. Ltd 45
Figure 5.1: Location Map of the Site 49
Figure 5.2: Land Suitability Map 50
Figure 5.3: Land Analysis 51
Figure 5.4: The Conceptual Development of the Site and the Facilities 52
Figure 5.5: Design Requirements Diagram 54
Figure 5.6: The Waste Management System 55
Figure 5.7: The Vehicle Management Structure 55
Figure 5.8: The Organizational Structure 56
Figure 5.9: Adjacencies Matrix 1 59
Figure 5.9.1: Adjacencies Matrix 2 59
Figure 5.10: The Proposed Site Plan 59
Figure 5.11: The Proposed Ground Floor Plan 60
Figure 5.12: The Proposed Left Side Elevation 61
Figure 5.13: The Proposed Approach Elevation 62

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 LIST OF PLATE
Plate 4.1 -1.5m deep Pit for Soaking of the Rice Paddies …… 36
Plate 4.2 – The Rice Paddy Steaming/ Parboiling Machine …… 37
Plate 4.3 – The Drier …… 37
Plate 4.4 – The Rice Mill …… 37
Plate 4.5 – The Rice Mill Destoner …… 38
Plate 4.6: Inclined elevator delivers paddy grain via aspirator …… 41
Plate 4.7. The overhead soaking tanks …… 41
Plate 4.8. The multistage rice mill …… 42
Plate 4.9 The rice mill with bucket elevated feed. …… 42
Plate 4.10 The twin soaking and steaming tanks …… 43
Plate 4.11: Site Ariel View of T.K Rice Mill and Ash Co. Ltd …… 44
Plate 4.12: The Silos of T.K Rice Mill and Ash Co. Ltd …… 46
Plate 4.13: Rice Mill-Process-Production-Line …… 46
Plate 4.14: T.K Rice Intake Structure …… 47
Plate 4.15: T.K Rice machines installation …… 47

xiii
 APPENDICES
APPENDIX I: SITE PLAN …… 70
APPENDIX II: GROUND FLOOR PLAN …… 70
APPENDIX III: FIRST FLOOR PLAN …… 71
APPENDIX IV: SECOND FLOOR PLAN …… 71
APPENDIX V: THIRD FLOOR PLAN …… 72
APPENDIX VI: ROOF PLAN …… 72
APPENDIX VII: SECTION E – E …… 72
APPENDIX VIII: SECTION D – D …… 73
APPENDIX IX: SECTION B – B …… 73
APPENDIX X: APPROACH ELEVATION …… 73
APPENDIX XI: REAR ELEVATION …… 74
APPENDIX XII: LEFT SIDE ELEVATION …… 74
APPENDIX XIII: RIGHT SIDE ELEVATION …… 74
APPENDIX XIV: INTAKE AREA: GROUND FLOOR PLAN …… 75
APPENDIX XV: INTAKE AREA: GROUND FLOOR PLAN @ 0.0MM …… 75
APPENDIX XVI: INTAKE AREA: 1ST TO 3RD FLOOR PLAN …… 76
APPENDIX XVII: INTAKE AREA: FOURTH FLOOR PLAN …… 76
APPENDIX XVIII: INTAKE AREA: 5TH AND 6TH FLOOR PLAN …… 77
APPENDIX XIX: INTAKE AREA: ROOF PLAN AND SECTION A – A …… 77
APPENDIX XX: SECTION B – B AND SECTION C – C …… 78
APPENDIX XXI: SECTION D – D AND APPROACH ELEVATION …… 78
APPENDIX XXII: REAR ELEVATION AND DETAILS …… 78
APPENDIX XXIII: RIGHT AND LEFT ELEVATION …… 79
APPENDIX XXIV: SILOS: PLANS AND ELEVATION …… 79
APPENDIX XXV: SILOS: DETAILS OF PLATFORM …… 80
APPENDIX XXVI: ADMIN BUILDING: GROUND FLOOR PLANS …… 80
APPENDIX XXVII: ADMIN BUILDING: FIRST FLOOR PLANS …… 81
APPENDIX XXVIII: ADMIN BUILDING: ELEVATIONS …… 81

xiv
APPENDIX XXIX: ADMIN BUILDING: SCHEMATIC 3D PERSPECTIVES 82
APPENDIX XXX: RESTAURANT: GROUND FLOOR PLAN …… 82
APPENDIX XXXI: RESTAURANT: PROPOSED APPROACH ELEVATION… 82
APPENDIX XXXII: RESTAURANT: SECTION AND ELEVATION …… 83
APPENDIX XXXIII: CLINIC/ DOMITORY: GROUND FLOOR PLAN …… 83
APPENDIX XXXIV: CLINIC/ DOMITORY: ELEVATION AND PERSPECTIVE
…… 83
APPENDIX XXXV: EMERGENCY UNIT: FLOOR PLANS …… 84
APPENDIX XXXVI: EMERGENCY UNIT: SCHEMATIC 3D PERSPECTIVES
…… 85
APPENDIX XXXVII: CHANGING ROOM: GROUND FLOOR PLAN …… 85
APPENDIX XXXVIII: CHANGING ROOM: ELEVATIONS AND PERSPECTIVES
…… 86
APPENDIX XXXIX: TRUCK MAINTENANCE: FLOOR PLAN AND SECTION
…… 86
APPENDIX XL: TRUCK MAINTENANCE: ELEVATIONS …… 87
APPENDIX XLI: TRUCK MAINTENANCE: SCHEMATIC PERSPECTIVES
…… 87
APPENDIX XLII: STAFF QUARTERS: FLOOR PLANS …… 88
APPENDIX XLIII: STAFF QUARTERS: ROOF PLAN …… 88
APPENDIX XLIV: STAFF QUARTERS: PLAN AND ELEVATIONS …… 89
APPENDIX XLV: 3D VIEW OF ADMIN UNIT (I) …… 89
APPENDIX XLVI: 3D VIEW OF ADMIN UNIT (II) …… 90
APPENDIX XLVII: 3D VIEW OF PROPOSED RICE MILL (I) …… 90
APPENDIX XLVIII: 3D VIEW OF PROPOSED RICE MILL (II) …… 91
APPENDIX XLIX: 3D VIEW OF PROPOSED SITE- INTAKE AREA …… 91
APPENDIX L: 3D VIEW OF PROPOSED SITE (I) …… 92
APPENDIX LI: 3D VIEW OF PROPOSED SITE (II) …… 92

xv
 DEFINITION OF TERMS
• Process improvement - Can be defined as taking a close look at how processes were
performed, with an objective of improving efficiency and reducing equipment downtime.
• Throughput - User-measured processing speed of a machine expressed as total output
in a unit period (usually an hour) under normal operating conditions.
• Bottleneck - Can be defined as the neck and mouth of a bottle, or an area where things
become congested, caught or blocked, or a situation that causes a delay.
• Production - The act of producing, making or creating something
• Rice Mill - A rice huller, a device for removing the outer husks of raw grains of rice.
A building housing and powering such a machine
• Oryza Sativa - a botanical name for cultivated rice.
• Circulation - The act of passing from place to place or person to person; free diffusion;
transmission.
• Cultivation - The art or act of growing plants/ crops; improvement of land for or by
agriculture.
• Mechanized - To equip something with machinery; to make something routine,
automatic or monotonous.
• Agriculture - The art or science of cultivating the ground, including the harvesting of
crops and the rearing and management of livestock; tillage; husbandry; farming.
• Factory - A building or other place where manufacturing something.
• Packaging - the act of packing something; the materials used in packing something.
• Paddy - Rice before it is milled; an irrigated or flooded field where rice is grown.
• Urbanization - The process of the formation and growth of cities; the change in a
country or region when its population migrates from rural to urban areas.
• NRDS - National Rice Development Strategies

xvi
 CHAPTER ONE
1.0. INTRODUCTION
We will converse on how rice processing and packaging mills handle the production of rice
in order to meet demands at every season. Also, I will try to point out where the bottlenecks
occur in the production process and how it hinders the rice factory to produce the projected
quantity required.
The aim of this study is to ascertain the causes to look out for in the rice mill and the
production of paddies into milled rice treating circulation; which can as well be further
classified into Air, people, and processing circulation. The design of rice mills considering
circulation is expected to as well be flexible, modular, and easy to configure in its wholeness
in my proposal for the rice mill design. These are put into considerations to put an end to
production problems faced in rice production systems. The common areas being applied
include the rice-producing industries and packaging industries. By considering these factors
in my design can offer a better and dissimilar solution that should produce a more-
preferable production system fashion that can be used in any part of Nigeria and in the long
run, overseas.

1.1. BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Rice which has the botanical names of Oryza sativa (African rice known as Oryza
glaberrima) is categorized as Asian rice (FAOSTAT data, 2012). It has two main subspecies:
the non-sticky, long-grained Indica rice variety, and the sticky, short-grained japonica or
sinica variety. Japonica varieties are mostly cultivated in dry or parched fields (submerged in
Japan), in temperate East Asia, upland areas in Southeast Asia, and high elevations in South
Asia, while indica varieties are mostly lowland rice, grown mainly submerged, throughout
tropical Asia. Rice exists in various colours, comprising white, black, brown, red, and purple
rice (Mohammadi Shad, Z; Atungulgu, G March 2019).
Rice is a cereal grain and it grows mostly in marshy areas, particularly areas with high
rainfall, although through the use of water-regulatory terrace systems, rice can still grow in
regions with little rainfall. It is important to note that it is delicate and needs much attention
and care to grow well. Rice can be cultivated by direct seeding or transplanting. The rice
seeds are scattered on top of the soil and then tilled into the soil through the use of a tiller or
plow. The rice seeds are soaked in water for about 34 hours and allowed to dry for up to 24
hours and is subsequently ready for harvesting. It usually takes between 120-200 days after
planting and this depends on the areas or zones of farming and other considerable factors.
1
When it is ready for harvest, the grains would fall off from the stalk and then from green to
golden-yellow. The water content in the rice paddy must be allowed to dry or evaporate
before proper harvesting and this will also let the rice ripen well after which the rice is
harvested by cutting the stalk directly beneath the heads and the grains are separated from the
stalk using a mechanized thresher.
Rice has been cultivated since prehistoric era and Oryza is a classical Latin word for rice and
Sativa means “cultivated”. It is an indispensable food and a pinned-down ration in many
African and Asian countries and in other parts of the world. For about half of the human race,
it is the most important staple food (Imolehim and Wada, 2000). Saka and Lawal (2009)
classified rice as the most essential food upon which over 50 percent of the World population
depend for about 80 percent of their food need. Due to the increasing prominence of the crop,
Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO, 2001) projected that annual rice production
should be increased from 586 million metric tons in 2001 to meet up to the projected global
demand of about 756 million metric tonnes by 2030.
Speaking of local production, rice which is cultivated in almost all the agro-ecological
divisions of Nigeria has become one of the major cereals produced by Nigerian farmers
today. Depending on the rice variety, it covers mutually the highlands and the marshes or
swamps (KNARDA, 2007). To improve national food security, Nigeria has curtailed imports
and is currently trying to promote more rice production. However, much more work still
needs to be done and so, as it concerns farmers, the Nigerian government endeavors to
improve the agricultural sector in several ways, including rendering governmental loans
offered at cheap interest rates to farmers, grants and technology provided by non-profit
organizations and foreign agencies such as the World Bank funding the national agricultural
sect. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) arranged a $130m scheme which offers farmers
having at least 1 hectare of land loans at a 9% interest rate, and this is not up to the standard
interest rate of 14%.
This implies that as the participation of the ‘formal market’ reduces, small-scale rice farmers will find
it difficult to shift into commercial farming which in turn reduces trims down the development of the
economy. Although several studies have been carried out on the production and marketing of rice as
well as other crops in Nigeria, most of the studies focused on the efficiency of farmers in terms of
resources’ use, structure, conduct and performance of market say that its development would cause
the country to now save about N300 billion was usually spent annually on importing the commodity
(Odok, 2000; Ohen, 2008).

2
Precise information on the degree to which technical, socio-economic, and institutional factors affect
marketing decisions made among rice farmers is deficient. Nonetheless these kinds of research are
very important for trustworthy evaluation and planning of appropriate rice production technique and
technological application, which should in turn aid marketing policies.
Availability of markets as well as improved access into these markets are highly essential to rural and
poor homes and are necessary for improving economic growth based on agriculture by increasing the
keenness and competitiveness of the agricultural enterprise thus improving rural earnings. Even with
these, the involvement of smallholder farmers in the rice market will still be low as a result of various
constraints (Makhura, 2001; Ohen, Etuk and Onoja, 2013).
Several schemes in Nigeria has been funded by the World bank to help improve agriculture and also
centers which offer machines and equipment at highly subsidized prices for farmers. These efforts are
beginning to show effect, and 3.7 million tonnes of rice is being produced annually in Nigeria,
according to the US Department of Agriculture, World Markets and Trade.
In the West African sub-region, Nigeria has faced a firm growing demand for rice with increased
consumption and this has resulted in large-scale importation in terms of quantity and value in order to
make up for the insufficient production of rice into the country at different times (Saka and Lawal,
2009).The demand for local rice is fast-growing due to urbanization and population growth (United
State Agency for Development, USAID, 2010).
Peter Dama, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rice Miller’s Association, said that the
association was established in order to promote even local rice milling that is nutritious, healthy, and
fresh. He stated that investigations conducted by the Federal Government revealed that the rice
imported into Nigeria are about 10-15 years old which are preserved with chemicals which can cause
cancer to consumers and that the association will be willing to work together with the Nigeria
Customs Service to curtail the smuggling of expired rice into the country.
Nigeria’s estimated annual demand of rice is documented to be 4.8 million metric tonnes, while
annual production of milled rice product is averagely about 2.8 million tonnes leaving a shortage of 2
million tonnes which is spanned by importation (Uchei, 2014). The domestic rice demand is projected
to increase to 7.5 million tonnes by 2013 based on the assumption that its demand inclines at 10% per
annum with demand for local rice-growing at half the rate of the imported rice (NRDS, 2009). This
rise in demand is due to fact that rice has now become from a staple food rather than an elitist for
most Nigerians (KNARDA, 2007).
The manufacturing systems of the industry at large is constantly improving through: improvement of
the manufacturing line, development of new factories and/or buying machine-tools. These
improvements could be due to the introduction of new and better facilities into the factory, an increase
of capacity to meet the market demand and so on. It is advised to come up with a system that makes
circulation easy so that the management and production units can solve problems more effectively,

3
after all, the existing methods used by the company are technically challenging, cost ineffective and
time-wasting. Our aim is to get rid of bottlenecks through a maximized use of machines to produce
larger quantities of rice, at faster speed with reduced mechanical stresses thus improving the quality of
packaged rice output.
Based on research and information from rice mill industries, improvement in productivity can be
attained in the aspect of maximized machine utilization, queuing and total processing time. Hence, we
help the Oryza sativa factory or rice mill to improve the requirement above by inducing flexibility in
its circulation pattern to aid more productivity.
It has been found that there are two basic methods of milling in the Oryza Sativa factory, in which
most rice mills in Nigeria still operates. And they are seen below;
Traditional Method: Hand-pounding is a traditional rice milling method that was used before the
introduction of mechanically milled rice. Although, hand-pounding rice has more nutritional value
compared to machine-milled rice but efficiency in production is never met. In hand-pounding, a range
of implements are used including: Mortar and Pestle, and Hand Stone in an open space floor plan,
usually at the courtyard or a small mud room with simple roof and large windows of which most rice
farmers in Nigeria still do.
Mechanical Method: Hand-pounding method has gradually decreased with the advent of mechanized
mills because it could not equalize with the efficiency of machine mills. The conservative mills
currently in use can be grouped into three major types:

• Huller mills
• Sheller-Huller mills
• Sheller-Cone Polisher mills.

Table 1.1 Rice Milling Flow Chart and Explanation

4
 Figure 1.1 Flow Diagram of a Modern Rice Mill

1.2. PROBLEM STATEMENT

By statistics, Nigeria is the topmost rice importer globally and is the largest rice producer in
West Africa. The main rice-producing states in Nigeria is; Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kano, Niger,
Borno, Benue and Taraba, other rice-producing states include Cross River and Enugu. It is
3rd highest global food production, after sugarcane and maize.
Nigeria’s rice sub-sector is subject to insufficient and weak producer-market connection
because of the inadequate efficiency of the distribution network and poor infrastructure which
has led to low participation and productivity of farmers in the rice field. In order to lessen rice
importation rate, Saka and Lawal (2009) stated that the dissemination of improved varieties
and other modern inputs as a composite package to rice farmers is very important. Igwe,
Nwite and Wakatsuki (2008) specified that the adoption of improved management practices
and technologies should lead to a significant yield in the production of rice.
Based on the foregoing, the study attempts to provide answers to the following questions;
How does evolutionary-ecological approach to the natural shapes and forms and the
built environment have a strong positive impact on people as well as the environment?
What are the basic factors influencing circulation of the rice mill aiding the quantity
of rice production?

5
 HOW SHOULD SAFETY BE DEALT WITH IN THE DESIGN OF ALL SPACES
REQUIRED FOR OPERATIONS IN THE RICE MILL.
How can the arrangement of machines in terms of production line effectively aid
outputs?
What are the added advantages of establishing flexible circulation pattern in the
architectural design solution?

1.3. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

This research study discusses the use and application of circulations based on the
performance of rice processing and packaging in the production industry. The objectives
which are needed to be achieved at the end of the study are:
• To exemplify the process rice packaging with a sense of flexible circulation pattern.
• To pinpoint bottlenecks existing in the design of the rice processing and packaging
mill.
• To create functional spaces that aids the ease to processing and packaging of the
milled rice in order to meet demands at every season.
• create a conducive working environment ensuring safety for staff and workers of the
facilities.
• create a sustainable design with emphasis on energy consumption management and
high occupancy comforts.

1.4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of this project will be focused on the design of the rice mill industry which will be
located in industrial areas in Nigeria closer to rice farms and to consumers too. This rice
processing mill which is intended to be located in Ogun state will grow her rice farms and
collect half processed paddy (Brown rice) from suppliers within the states, which then will
undergo series of processing in the production industry to change it to white rice after which
it is ready for distribution within the country.

6
 Figure 1.2 Rice Processing and Packaging Concentration Map in Nigeria
Name Location
• Agrotek Value Chains Agent Km 14 Uromi-Ugboha, Ugboha Community, Esan South LGA,
Limited Edo State – Nigeria.
• Alhamsad Rice Mill Kundila Road, Kano, Kano – Nigeria.
• Anambra Rice Mill Limited Stine Industries Nigeria Limited, Amichi, Anambra – Nigeria.
• Jewesi Rice Milling /Processing Opposite New are Junction, Wukari Road, Jalingo, Taraba
Factory State – Nigeria.
• Mmunachimso Rice Enterprise No.5c & 8c Line Rice Mill, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State – Nigeria.
• SS Rice Mills Nigeria Limited Rano, Kano, Kano – Nigeria.
• Tim Tali Rice Mills Limited Pil-Gani Road, Kwanpe Langtang North, Plateau State –
Nigeria.
• Timkatponsak Ventures Nigeria Central Market, Langtang North, Plateau State – Nigeria
Table 1.2 Some of the Rice Processing and Packaging Mill in Nigeria

The production line consists of 7 stages and all stages would likely have their own
responsibilities right from the beginning process to the packaging stage. The process may
involve input stage, de-stoner, dryer, polisher, color sorter to a silo, and from a silo to an auto
scale then finally to workers who packages the rice with the required amount. Information is
gathered to get the production output by studying the proficiency of the production line, the
activities of usable space internally and externally so that full machine utilization can be
achieved by building a discrete mechanized processing and packaging mill model embracing
the principle of circulation.
7
With all the necessary information gathered, I will be, with the aid of CAD, designing a
model to cater for flexibility and circulation of both air, people and the mechanical
production line.

1.5 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY

The demand for rice is rapidly growing due to urbanization and population growth. The
estimated annual demand for rice in Nigeria is put at 5 million metric tons while annual rice
production was averagely about 2.21 million tons leaving a shortage of 2.79 million-tonnes
spanned by importation (NRDS, 2009). The domestic rice demand is projected to increase to
9.5 million tons by 2019, based on the proposition that rice demand increases at 10% per
annum, while the local rice demand grows at half the rate of imported rice (NRDS, 2009).
Increasing rice production in Nigeria will directly result in higher consumption as well as
enhanced trading for utmost benefits.
Increasing utilization of circulation in the built environment for rice production and
comfortability of workers and visitors in every spaces will improve the livelihoods of the
people working in the mill. Also, strategically considered linkages between all spaces like the
administrative blocks to the warehouse, to the Rice Mill, intake area etc along with it
geological comsideration of the orientation of facilities are indispensable. With this, the
general site planning and the introduction of greeneries will aid circulation on all sides as
well as take care of stress from the users of the space, maximized advantage to energy
efficiency of the rice mill during and after processing. The study will be beneficial to the
Nigerian government, as a basis for empirical and rational formulation of policies for rice
production and marketing at state level. Finally, this work will hopefully be of help to
researchers to find other areas for further studies on rice processing, packaging and
distribution.

8
 CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 WORLD PRODUCTION AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN RICE
According to FAO estimates, the average annual world production during 1999-2003 was
593 million tonnes paddy (unhusked grain) from 153 million hectares. Asia accounts for 90
percent of the world production and area. During 1999-2003, tropical Africa produced on
average 11.9 million tonnes paddy (2 percent of world production) annually on 7.7 million
hectares (5 percent of world area); these data include African rice (Oryzaglaberrima), which
occupies less than 20 percent of the rice area in West Africa (Brink and Belay, 2006). The
annual world paddy production increased steadily from 241 million tonnes per year in 1961-
1965 to 593 million tonnes in 1999-2003, and the harvested area from 121 to 153 million
hectares. In the same period, the annual paddy production in tropical Africa increased from
3.6 to 11.9 million tonnes per year, and the harvested area from 2.8 to 7.7 million hectares
(Brink and Belay, 2006).
The main producers are Nigeria (3.5 million tonnes from 2.9 million hectares), Madagascar
(2.6 million tonnes from 1.2 million hectares) and Cote D’Ivoire (1.1 million tonnes from 0.5
million hectares) (Brink and Belay, 2006). Only 5% of the world’s rice production enters into
international trade. Thailand is the world’s largest exporter of milled rice (26 percent of
world trade during 1998-2002) followed by Vietnam, India, the United States, China and
Pakistan. All countries in tropical Africa are net importers of milled rice and during 1998-
2002 an average of 4.8 million tonnes milled rice was imported annually. This means that
more than one-third of the rice consumption in tropical Africa is satisfied through imports
(Brink and Belay, 2006). Main rice importers are Nigeria, Senegal, and Cote D’Ivoire. Per
capita annual milled rice consumption in tropical Africa varies tremendously between 0.15 kg
and 95 kg with an average of about 18 kg for the period 1998-2002 (Brink and Belay, 2006).

2.2 CIRCULATION IN THE DESIGN OF SPACE

The term "Circulation" refers to the movement of people or ventilation or processes through,
around and between buildings and other parts of the built environment. Within the design of a
building, the spaces usually used for circulation include entrances, foyers and lobbies,
terraces, confluences, stairs etc. There is a school of thought that distinguishes it as the space
between the spaces, having a relational function but at the same time be much more than just
a connecting function.

9
 Fig. 2.1 Circulation of Interior of Polak Building by Paul de Ruiter Architects
The word efficiency can not be separated from the circulation space, else it would be received
by viewers as useless space, adding needless area and cost to the built or proposed project.
For building types such as commercial facilities, the amount of circulation spaces provided in
the design are often times converted back to the tenancies or apartment partitioning which
would then be lettable and thus, generating income for the owner. In the cases with tall
buildings, the vertical circulation is usually at the center of the building serving as a core,
with stairs and lifts attached and lobbies leading away from the core at each level into the
interior unit spaces.

Fig. 2.2 Federal Center South Building 1202 by ZGF Architects

10
In contrast to this system where the circulation is centrally located and well hidden,
circulation are expressed externally and can be lit up in such a way that from the exterior it
pleases the eyes right from within the building. Even in smaller buildings like residential
apartments, the staircase which functions as circulation can become the architectural features
of the house.
The Pompidou Centre in Paris is a well celebrated example of this technique. It was designed
by Richard Rogers and Reno Piano in a high-tech style. It has got features such as the
translucent escalators with red undersides with feels like a snake slithering across the exposed
façade of the building. The spaces seem forever active because of the ever-changing
movement of the users.

Fig. 2.3 Centre Georges Pompidou, France

2.3 CIRCULATION AS A FACTORS IN DETERMINING LAYOUT AND DESIGN

In the architecture of commercial buildings, the architects need to consider many factors
regarding the operational system of the facility when building or renovating to attain the
maximum effectiveness in its entire layout. These criteria include the following;
a. Ease of Future Expansion - The architect must consider in the design of facilities to cater
for future expansion and adjustment to meet changing production needs. Although
redesigning and expanding to meet the current need of the unit might be necessary but it is a
major, expensive and a project that must not to be done lightly (Weiss and Gershon, 1989).
Therefore, any design should be flexible. A flexible system in the design of a factory most

11
often are highly automated facilities having intermediate-volume production of variety of
product. With minimized time saved on changeovers or setup recalibration, the different
products are produced at desired rate along with a close achievement to assembly line
production rates (single-line-production).
b. Flow of movement - a smooth process flow should be recognized in the design of
production facilities. Ideally, the plan should show how true raw materials enter the plant at
one end and the finished product emerging as the output, perhaps the last end. The different
type of flow pattern includes;
- Straight Line
- Parallel Flows
- U-shaped Pattern or
- Zig-zag Pattern that ends up with the finished product returning or being received at the
intake or receiving bay. This can be functional. However, one fact to avoid is backtracking
because when parts and the products or raw materials move against or across the overall flow,
personnel or record keeping becomes confusing, parts get lost and with the coordination
becoming complicated to control.
c. Material Handling - circulation aid the handling of material in a simpler manner. With
sufficient work space, the layout of the facility makes it also possible for the products and
equipment to be handled in an orderly and efficient system.
d. Output needs - The layout of the facility should be such that it is convenient to helping
the quantity of output target meet the production needs.
e. Space Utilization - This aspect makes provision in its design, wide traffic lanes to contain
certain inventory storage warehouses make use of adequate vertical space as possible.
f. Ease of Communication and Support - Circulation in the design of the facility will aid
communication within various areas of the unit. This eases effectiveness in interaction
between staff and customers or visitors.
g. Impact on Employee Morale - Many countless studies have shown that employee morale
has a major impact on productivity, such as the introduction and with adequate provisions of
light-colored walls, windows and space.
h. Safety - The layout provided for the facility should enable effective operation in
accordance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines and other legal
restrictions.

12
Some of the goals in considering circulation in the facility are to ensure a minimum amount
of material processing, avoidance of unnecessary bottlenecks, reduction of interference of
machines, improve high morale of employee by reducing both biotic and abiotic stress,
ensuring safety and flexibility.
There are basically two (2) types of layout.
1. Product Layout - this has to do with assembly line with its orientation towards the
product made in the facility. It is applicable for high-volume repetitive operation. If the
volume of production of one or more products is large, the facilities can be arranged to
achieve efficient flow of materials and lower cost per unit. Special purpose machines are used
which perform the required function quickly and reliably. The product layout is selected
when the volume of production of a product is high such that a separate production line to
manufacture it can be justified. In a strict product layout, machines are not shared by different
products. Therefore, the production volume must be sufficient to achieve satisfactory
utilization of the equipment. A typical product layout is shown below;

Fig. 2.4. Product Layout Diagram

2. Process Layout - this has to do with the process orientation in the making of the final
product. This is applicable for low-volume custom-made goods. This type of layout is seen in
companies with intermittent processing systems. Process layout is recommended for batch
production. All machines performing similar type of operations are grouped at one location in
the process layout e.g., all lathes, milling machines, etc. are grouped in the shop will be
clustered in like groups. Thus, in process layout the arrangement of facilities is grouped
together according to their functions. A typical process layout is shown in Fig. 1.1. The flow
paths of material through the facilities from one functional area to another vary from product
to product. Usually the paths are long and there will be possibility of backtracking. Process
layout is normally used when the production volume is not sufficient to justify a product
layout.

13
2.4 CIRCULATION AS A KEY DEVELOPMENT FACTOR IN RICE PRODUCTION
In architecture, circulation refers to the way humans go through and have daily interplay with
the buildings. In public buildings, circulation is of excessive necessity; Structures such
as elevators, escalators, and staircases are frequently referred to as circulation elements. They
are placed and designed to optimize the waft of human beings with the advisable resource of
a building, each now and then via means of the use of a core. So in aiding the overall
operation in the Rice Mill, the facility layout and design are key elements adopted in term of
maximizing the efficiency in the production process and ultimately meeting the total output
demands and employer’s needs. So, circulation is a basic objective embraced in such layout
to ensure a smooth flow of work, materials, goods, products, and information through the
Rice Mill system.
The key to good facilities to be provided in the rice mills layout and design is;
a. The integration of the need of people (workers and visitors or customers)
b. Materials (Ram materials, in process and the finished products) and
c. Machineries.
They are all arranged and designed in the facilities provided in such a way that they give
users a feel of oneness, creating a single identity and a well-functioning system.
Alongside, the rise in food consumption (rice inclusive), some have argued that the
production of rice in large quantities (that is, large-scale) should be considered as one of the
major ways of ensuring food security for the teeming population in Nigeria (Herrmann,
Jumbe, Bruentrup and Osabuohien, 2017; Osabohien, Osabuohien & Urhie, 2017).
Another important aspect of rice production that requires attention is the issue of
technological advancement in rice processing since it has been observed that most of the
processes utilized by the rural rice farmers are mostly traditional that are both labor-intensive
and time-consuming. With a higher level of technology, the farmers will be able to achieve a
higher volume of yield with the best quality of products that will enhance consumer
preference for locally produced rice. Technological advancement in production and
harvesting will promote the commercialization and profitability of rice production. The
application of modern technology in the production and processing will further guarantee a
better packaging of local rice to make it more appealing to consumers and will attract more
buyers of the product. Kareem (2016) has pointed out that the major obstacle facing the
attainment of the potential benefits of agricultural production in many African countries is

14
inadequate science and technological advancement, which in turn will quickly embrace these
basic principles of space planning to counter the bottlenecks.

2.4.1 COMPONENTS OF CIRCULATION

The circulation system of a building is defined in its entirety by the very dimensions of
proposed numbers of users or machines could access at a time or occupy. In dealing with
circulation, the location for where every person or material might go are not necessarily
accounted for but the main route of the users or machine or materials are instead considered.
Furthermore, architects in the design of such facilities, typically divide their thoughts
according to the different types of circulation as relating to the function of the design. The
principles of circulation applied into spaces in a project is dependent on some factors, such
as;
• Direction of Movement – Horizontal or Vertical
• Type of Use: Public or private, approach side or the rear of the building.
• Frequency of Use: Common or emergency
• Time of Use: Day, night or continual.
Each of these recommendations of circulation types will demand different architectural
considerations. The direction of use and the type of use are often considered as critical to a
building layout. The movement might be categorized into fast or slow, mechanical or manual,
dark spaces needed or full lighting, multiple or single user, with the paths categorized into
winding, narrow or direct.

Fig. 2.5 Circulation Flow through a Building

Circulation spaces are distinguished as spaces facilitating circulation horizontally and those
facilitating circulation vertically. Examples of horizontal circulation in architectural design of
15
spaces are lobbies, foyers etc and for vertical circulation, ramps and stairs. There may be
restriction placed in the design of such spaces as regards specific users groups, like in public
spaces, having the public Circulation space and a restricted access as well for private
circulation space. There may be closed spaces within the circulation space too such as lobbies
or open spaces like atrium and in some instances designed to serve more than one functions.
In complex and massive structures such as commercial building or institutional building
designs, signages or other form of posts for location finding may be important to assist users
with the ease of navigating circulation spaces. Some circulation spaces are designed for basic
uses, such as the movement of materials, goods or processing machines or even for
evacuation of waste or by-products. The circulation space is however used as a means ingress
and egress from the building or facilities. This ultimately aid adequate provisions of fire
resisting construction system, properly positioning the units of the entire facilities in such a
way that prevent the spread of fire to or from other part of the same building or an adjoining
building.

2.5 FACTORS AFFECTING MARKET SUPPLY

The market supply refers to the amount actually taken to the markets irrespective of the needs
for home consumption and other requirements. Whereas, the marketed surplus is the residual
with the producer after meeting the requirement of seed, payment in kind, and consumption
by the farmer (Wolday, 1994 and Muhammed 2011). An important aspect of the supply chain
is that they consist of some associated but distinct flows. One is the physical flow of the
commodity and another is a flow of money realized from the final sale back to the producer
and all the enterprises that have been involved in processing and marketing. The efficiency
and effectiveness of the practices and procedures that govern this latter flow are as important
as technical efficiency with which the commodity is produced, processed, and marketed
(Westlake, 2005). The marketing of agricultural products consists primarily of moving
products from production sites to points of final consumption. In this regard, the market
performs exchange functions as well as physical and facilitating functions. The exchange
function involves buying, selling, and pricing. Transportation, product transformation, and
storage are physical functions, while financing, risk-bearing, and marketing information
facilitate marketing (Urgessa 2011).
A number of studies investigated factors that mainly affect the marketable supply of
agricultural commodities. The main factors which determine market supply could be divided

16
into economic factors which include the product price, provision of consumer goods,
production cost and market supply costs, and political factors which include the level of
government intervention (Maro, 1986; Wolday, 1994). One of the expected important
variables which influence the behavior of the market supply of producers is "price". If price
increases, producers will gain high revenue and would be motivated to increase the market
supply (Wolday, 1994). Bellemare and Barrett (2006) estimated factors affecting sell of
animals in Kenya and Ethiopia. They observed that the net purchase and net sales volume
choices depend on expected market participation. The household head sex (female-headed),
age, family size, herd size, female TLUs, encumbered males, and small stock (sheep and
goat) had a significant and negative influence on the number of animals sold. Unlikely,
assets, landholding, other income, encumbered females, and the average price of the larger
stock (camels and cattle) had correlated positively with the number of animals sold. A study
made in AlabaSiraro district by Wolday (1994), pointed out the major factors that influenced
the marketable supply of teff, maize, and wheat at AlabaSiraro district using cross-sectional
data and he investigated the relationship of farm-level marketable supply of cereals to capture
the influence of the independent variables on the marketable supply of food grain, he adopted
multiple regression analysis with both dummy and continuous variables as explanatory
variables. He identified that size of output (teff, maize, and wheat) significantly and
positively affected teff, maize, and wheat supplied. On the other hand, access to the market
significantly and negatively affected the volume of sales of teff and maize. Poor access to the
market negatively affected maize sold while positively affected teff and wheat sold. Family
size also significantly and positively affected the quantity supplied of teff and wheat while it
negatively affected the quantity supplied of maize.
A study by Wolelaw (2005) found out the major factors that affect the marketable supply of
rice at Fogera district using multiple linear regression model. He investigated the relationship
between the determinant factors of supply and the marketable supply of rice and the study
revealed that current price, lagged price, amount of rice produced at the farm level and
consumption at household level had influenced the marketable supply of rice at the district. A
similar study undertaken by Kinde (2007) indicated that, the major factors that affect the
marketable supply of sesame in Metema district by using cross-sectional data with a dummy
and continuous explanatory variable. In his study he implemented multiple linear regression
model to identify the relationship between the marketable supply of sesame and the
hypothesized explanatory variables, hence his study acknowledged that amount of sesame

17
productivity, use of modern inputs, number of languages spoken by the household head,
number of oxen owned, sesame area and time of selling of sesame influenced marketable
supply of sesame positively. Another related study by Rehima (2006) identified that the key
factors that affecting marketable supply of red pepper at Alaba and Siltie districts of
SNNPRS using cross-sectional data with both dummy and continuous independent variables.
In her study, she employed Tobit model and came up with the finding that distance to the
market, frequency of contacts with extension agents, the quantity of pepper produced and
access to market information influenced the marketable supply of pepper positively at the
district. Recent studies commonly used regression models to estimate the supply function.

2.6 ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF RICE

Rice is life for most people living in Asia. Rice has shaped the cultures, diets, and economics
of thousands of millions of people (Gnanamanickam, 2009). Considering its important
position, the United Nations designated the year 2004 as the International year of rice.
The various uses to which rice can be put into makes the product very important. Throughout
history, the ability to produce surplus rice has aided the development of various communities
and failure of rice crop has led to a widespread of famine, death and political instabilities in
many countries especially in Africa (Baba, 2003). The popularity of rice as food has
increased recently in a number of countries in Africa and America where it was not
traditionally a major crop (Adeoye, 2003). Rice grains are used as food all over the world
(Abdulrahman,1989). It could be prepared into “Tuwo”,” Alkaki”, “Masa” or” Waina”
(especially in Northern Nigeria), pudding and assorted dishes, but the commonest form of use
is the boiled form and eaten with stew or alternatively, it could be in combination with beans,
pear, potatoes, and even yams (Allu,1994). Although rice has little protein, vitamins, and
minerals, it nevertheless has several distinct advantages as food. Its carbohydrates are easily
digested. Rice is relatively non-allergic, which means that cases of hypersensitivity to it are
rare. Broken rice grains are used in making starch, which is used in industries, cosmetics, and
textile industries. The husk can be used as fuel. The straw can be used as feed to livestock,
for thatching houses, mat, and hat making (Onwueme and Sinha, 1991).

2.7 EFFECT OF LAYOUT PLANNING ON THE STATUS OF RICE PRODUCTION

In recent times, rice has been identified as one of the six major cash crops that Ogun State has
comparative advantage in producing, and therefore has started drawing attention. The other

18
cash crops apart from rice are: cassava, cocoa, cotton, kola-nut, and oil palm. In spite of the
preparation and adoption of Ogun State’s document on cash crop policy, there have not been
significant improvements in the level of rice production in the State. Current estimates
suggest that Ogun State’s rice output revolves between 15,000 and 20,000 tons per annum.
The area under cultivation is about 12,000 hectares which accounts for a share of 0.7% of
national area cultivated to rice (Onabanjo, 2011).
There is however a record of stable progress in the production of rice, but arrangement of
these resources in a facility can significantly affect the productivity of rice business, if
maximized as most farmers still practice the traditional means of processing the rice paddies
harvested. A lot of wasted time, energy, and confusion can result from this, and if a physical
structure is put in place, a poor layout can also have an adverse effect. There are also other
reasons layout planning is important. In many work environments, such as office settings,
face-to-face interaction between workers is important. Proper layout planning can be critical
in building good working relationships, increasing the flow of information, and improving
communication. Similarly, in retail organizations layout can affect sales by promoting
visibility of key items and contributing to customer satisfaction and convenience of the rice
mill. Layout planning affects many areas of the rice business, and its importance should not
be underestimated in the design to aid maximum annual production.
The term 'layout planning' can be applied at various levels of planning: Plant location
planning (where you are concerned with location of a factory or a warehouse or other
facility.) This is of some importance in design of multinational cooperating, Global-supply
Chain systems. Department location Planning: This deals with the location of different
departments or sections within a plant/factory. This is the problem we shall study in a little
more detail, below. Machine location problems: which deal with the location of separate
machine tools, desks, offices, and other facilities within each cell or department.
Detailed planning: The final stage of a facility planning is the generation, using CAD tools or
detailed engineering drawings, of scaled models of the entire floor plans, including details
such as the location of power supplies, cabling for computer networks and phone lines, etc.
The Department Location Problem: A department is defined as any single, large resource,
with a well-defined set of operations, and fixed material entry and exit points. Examples
range from a large machine tool, or a design department. The aim is to develop a BLOCK
PLAN showing the relative locations of the departments.

19
2.8 TRADITIONAL VERSUS MODERN RICE PROCESSING
Generally, the paddies of the rice plant are first milled to remove the chaff by subjecting it to
steam or parboiling. Raw untreated rice may be ground into flour for many uses such as
making of beverages (alcoholic or non-alcoholic), rice flour noodles, and food items (tuwo).
Processed rice seeds may be boiled, steamed, or further fried in cooking oil before eating.
When combined with milk, sugar, and honey, it is used to make rice desserts. Rice flour and
starch are often used in batters and breading to increase crispiness (Ogunsumi et al., 2013).
Thus, there are opportunities for the value chain in rice production in Ogun State which can
lead to job creation and enhanced income for households. There is also the possibility of
attracting new industries that will specialize in the processing of rice into different forms
suitable for a variety of finished products. In addition, through these feeder industries, there
will be more rice products that will create its own demand and thereby increasing demand for
rice.
The traditional methods of processing rice paddy involve: soaking of the paddy in water for
2-3 days; steaming of the soaked paddy for 5–10 minutes and dried in the sun; pounding the
dried paddy in a mortar and pestle to remove the husk or use of simple milling machines;
then the grain is cleaned using a winnowing basket (Ajala & Gana, 2015). The traditional
method of rice processing is simple, but it is tedious, leads to breakage of rice kernels and
incomplete removal of husks, and has short storage life. In modern methods, the rice is first
cleaned to remove contaminants, and the husks are then removed by a machine called
shellers. The shellers are commonly horizontal spaced rotating abrasive stones, but increasing
use is being made of rubber roll or a rubber belt. The rice and hulls are separated by
aspiration and any paddy remaining with the rice is removed in a paddy separator.
The main problem of Nigerian rice (especially those processed through traditional method) is
the presence of stones in the rice grains. The responses from the interview conducted with the
rice farmers revealed the major sources of the stones were traditional processes such as
harvesting, sun-drying, and so on. It starts with the parking of paddy rice from the ground
after harvesting; then through sun-drying of the paddy after parboiling where the paddy is
spread over a mat (or detached sack) on the ground; and parking of the paddy after it has been
sun-dried, where some of the paddy that falls off is inadvertently parked together with the
pebbles (stones). In some cases, there are perforations in the mat which allows stone
penetration and a mix-up with the paddy. In the words of the farmers, ‘stones do not grow

20
with the rice; it is the weakness of humans in harvesting and processing that introduces the
stones.
In Ogun State, modern stone removal machines (known as destoner as shown in Figure A3 in
the Appendix) are located in places like Moloku Asipa in Obafemi Owode LGA, Ijebu,
Imuwe, Ago Ijebu, Kobape, Obada-Oko, Ifo, Lafenwa and Iboro, as revealed during KII with
the farmers. Whereas the older version of the machine can destone at the capacity of less than
1 ton per day, the modern de-stoner has a capacity of 2 tons per day equivalent to 250 kg per
hour. The modern machines are located where there are clusters of rice farmers in large
numbers with a view to having regular patronage. There are slight variations in the machines
as it was reported that the type of machine located within a specific area should be
compatible with the type of grains produced in that locality.
Another improvement in rice processing in Nigeria is the drying process where the traditional
sun-drying can be replaced by a mechanical dryer, which can process about 3 tons and
remove 50 percent moisture of rice in six hours. However, there is still some demand for
locally processed rice as the farmers interviewed stated that the soaking of paddy rice can be
optimal at 4 days, which brings out the aroma (odor) that makes the Ofada variety unique in
the market. One of the RGAN members who are involved in rice farming and processing
recalled an event when the paddy was soaked for only 2 days and the resultant effect was
shocking: ‘one of the distributors returned some bags of 50kg rice on the account that the
consumers rejected them because they did not have the usual aroma’.

2.8.1 MAJOR CONSTRAINTS TO RICE PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING

This section presents a summary of the key challenges facing rice production and processing
in Ogun State. They are numbered according to the severity as identified by the respondents.
Some suggestions on how to ameliorate them are also provided.
a. Financial Constraint
The challenges encountered by farmers in rice production cuts across the value chain.
However, the most outstanding challenge was financing for rice farming. In every segment of
the rice production process, it has been observed that finance played a significant role in the
development of rice processing in Ogun State. The majority of the rice farmers are aged
above 50 years and they serve as the major source of labor as most of the young working
population prefers white-collar jobs. Consequently, the cost of farm labor has become very
expensive making it very difficult for an individual farmer to hire. Hence, before any farmer

21
can carry out rice production beyond the subsistence level, there will be a need for financial
support from the government, private investors, individuals, agric-scientist, and non-
governmental organizations (NGOs). For instance, the government could assist the farmers
by procuring a group of interested farmers at a reduced cost to facilitate farm mechanization
and commercial production. Thus, clusters of rice farmers could afford to hire these tractors
to clear large hectares of land.
In line with the above insights, our respondents affirm that inadequate finance constitutes the
major challenge in rice production in Ogun State. It was further explained thus:
Finance in the sense that if you want to farm on your own, you need a lot of money that is
why we are calling on the government to get us cluster areas. To develop a large expanse of
farmland and distribute to farmers, let us have clusters, like the value chain now, they are
developing a cluster at Onidundu where they will clear about 80 hectares for farmers and
distribute to the farmers. All other production processes will be easier.
b. Land Development Related Challenges

Figure 2.6: Rice Milling Capacity Shares By Miller Type in Nigeria

Source: For maximum milling capacity shares by miller type, authors calculations based on
in Annex Table A1. A small scale is a residual based on the total capacity of medium and
large in each zone. Paddy production is based on national-level estimates in the USDA
international database for Nigeria (2019). NE=Northeast zone; NW=Northwest;
SE=Southeast; SS=South-South; SW=Southwest.
The problem of land development arises because most of the farmlands for rice cultivation
are usually located in the rainforest, especially areas that have not been used for rice
cultivation previously. Given the nature of vegetation, intended lands for rice cultivation will
22
require a great deal of labor inputs to clear a large expanse of land particularly when it is not
mechanized. However, to effectively clear such forest zones for rice cultivation, there will be
a need to hire tractors which could be highly exorbitant; hence, they may not be within the
reach of an average rice farmer. Apart from the challenge in hiring tractors, the interview
revealed that rice seed germinates within the topsoil where the rice roots absorb soil nutrients;
hence, most of the nutrients needed for rice growth are supplied from the surface soil. A
common challenge for medium and large-scale millers, and to some degree for milling
clusters as well, is pro-curing and storing enough quality paddy to maximize capacity
utilization throughout the year. In fact, for the large-scale operators, they prefer to always
have the option to mill imported brown rice due to the insufficient supply of quality paddy
throughout the year, as pointed out by Johnson (2016). Many have to import rice from
different regions within Nigeria, as well as from global markets in the case of brown rice. The
diagram above provides model results on the potential capacity utilization for premium rice
milling among medium and large-scale millers given conditions in 2009 and 2013 with
respect to the supply of quality paddy, imported brown rice, and prices and costs. This
further entails that the tractor operation during land preparation should be carried out with
some care with a view not to removing the surface soil that houses the essential nutrients,
which is crucial for effective rice production. However, it is observed that there are instances
whereby the soil nutrients are eroded from the surface soil during tractor operation in the land
preparation process which eventually affects the supply of nutrients to the crops. In addition
to the constraint of hiring tractors and erosion of the surface soil during land preparation,
there are other challenges such as accessibility of land for commercial production.

Figure 2.7 Total Milled Rice Output in Wet and Dry Seasons in Nigeria
23
c. Input challenges
The farm inputs refer to the availability of farm raw materials required for rice production.
Most important in this aspect is the ability of the farmers to have access to the right variety of
rice seed that is suitable for that particular ecology. Secondly, the issue of genuine herbicides
for effective treatment of weeds is a real challenge at the rice production stage. This owes to
the fact that some of the herbicides are now becoming adulterated. This makes it difficult to
distinguish between the original and fake herbicides. To access new improved varieties that
are suitable for a particular ecology requires a huge sum of money which could highly
expensive for an average farmer to afford. However, the government is yet to meet up with
the demand of procuring these varieties and making it available to the farmers at a subsidized
rate as a means assisting the local farmers in boosting rice production in Ogun State. This
invariably do not encourage more farmers and the teaming unemployed labor force to go into
rice production. This, therefore, reduces the opportunities for more employment in the real
sector economy.
Furthermore, the KIIs conducted show that the adulteration of herbicides constitutes a serious
problem in rice production. “It could have been easier, if we had genuine herbicides, the
adulteration of herbicides is another problem”, one of the interviewees added. This implicates
that when the herbicides are adulterated, the effectiveness of the chemical in killing weeds is
reduced such that the farmers after spending their resources in purchasing the herbicides will
not even realize the objective of using them. The aftermath is an increased cost of production
and consequently affects the profitability of the rice farmers adversely coupled with the
laborious nature of the rice production process.
Other major reasons for insufficient domestic production of rice include; inadequate and
untimely availability of necessary inputs, cost of reducing rice production constraints, and
cost of adopting proven technologies. Though various governments in Nigeria have tried to
improve the domestic production base of rice, there has not been enough incentives for
farmers to increase their production. Other challenges revolve around land fragmentation and
reliance on crude agricultural equipment. The method of rice cultivation and harvesting
mostly relied on a labor-intensive approach at the subsistence level in addition to the low
level of Agricultural extension agencies.
d. Un-mechanized Rice Production Processes (Low Tractorization)
Most of the production processes that are connected to rice production in Ogun State still
make use of the traditional method approach. The process starting from land cultivation to

24
harvesting and processing is mostly done with manual labor, thus making the production
process labor-intensive. From KII, it was learned that on average a farmer needs a total of 10
workers to work on a hectare of land from cultivation to the harvesting stage. Despite the fact
that some of these farmworkers are family members, the cost of hiring farm laborers poses a
significant constraint to rice production in Ogun State. The labor-intensive method of rice
farming is not only tedious but time-consuming and, in the end, the farmers only produce at
the subsistence levels, and in few cases where there is excess, it is sold at the local markets.
The un-mechanized method (which is also referred to as no or low tractorisation) of rice
production does not allow for production in commercial quantities that could be harvested,
processed, and marketed to reach wider consumers.
Furthermore, there is the unavailability of farm labor due to competing sectors that employ a
greater number of the young population such that agricultural business is becoming more and
more uninteresting to the teeming young population of the labor force in Ogun State. In a
nutshell, the leadership of RGAN is of the opinion that when they have requisite supports
from the government agencies such as their counterparts in the Indian States, they will not
only able to meet with domestic demand, but they can also have products to export. This
Indian analog is apt because the Ofada variety of rice in Ogun State is likened to the basmati
rice of India in terms of characteristics and nutrient content.
e. Birds Infestation
Another major challenge associated with the production stage as highlighted in the fieldwork
is the issue of bird infestation, which is problematic at the period of maturity of the rice
grains in the field. The farmers interviewed explained that rice farmers need to scare the birds
for at least 30 days prior to the maturity of the rice grains. The challenging aspect of it is that
the farmer or the person employed for this job will have to be in the farm early in the
morning (about 6.00 am before the birds wake up) to stay on the farm till in the evening
(around 7.00 pm after the birds have gone to sleep). In other words, the farmer has to be on
the farm before the waking up of the birds and remain there till evening when the birds go to
sleep with routine process of blowing the whistle or beating a kind of drum to raise sufficient
noise that will drive the birds away. In effect, for a hectare of rice farm, the farmer needs at
least two persons to effectively combat the bird infestation challenge, which has huge cost
implications. This step is normally taken as a proactive measure to stop the birds from
feeding the maturing rice grains while in the field. Without this step, the farmer is bound to

25
incur losses and low output because a great proportion of the rice harvest would have been
eaten up by the birds while in the field.
f. Labour Intensive Harvesting and Threshing Process
In this part of the country, we were meant to understand that harvesting of the paddy rice is
done by pinnacle and by straw. This process basically involves the use of manual labor and is
time-consuming. The major reason is that Ofada rice which is predominantly grown within
Ogun State lodges more than any other variety due to its weight. Therefore, harvesting by
straw which could be done with a machine is not suitable for this variety of rice. When
harvesting is done using a straw, many of the rice paddies are shattered at the point of
harvesting because of the lodging nature of Ofada rice. Hence, the farmers call on agricultural
engineers in Nigeria to develop a unique harvester that will be suitable for the type of rice
produced within the ecology of the State.
The above lends support to Adewumi, Olayanju, and Adewuyi (2007) who worked on rice
threshing clusters in Ofada, Abakaliki, Markudi, and Kano. Their study revealed that the
structure of farm size used for rice production by 80% of the farmers ranges from 1-10
hectares of the rice farm holding, 15% of the farmers cultivated between 11-20 hectares while
only 5 percent of the rice farmers have access to 21-30 hectares of land. The average farm
size cultivated by the rice farmers was 3 hectares. This indicates the low proportion of land
currently used by the local farmers for subsistence farming rather than for commercial and
export purposes. However, the mechanization of the rice threshing will to a large extent
enhance rice production in Ogun State and enable the farmers to produce high-quality rice
that is globally acceptable. The traditional method of threshing increases the chances of
harboring dirt and contamination with stones, which adversely affect the perception,
acceptability, and marketability of the locally processed rice. This scenario does not only
affect production and revenue from rice farming but also encourages over-reliance on
imported rice for local consumption as has been the case in Nigeria for many decades.
g. Limited Modern Processing Machines
This modern processing machine involves the use of equipment such as modern harvesters,
modern milling machines to remove the shaves from the paddy rice, winnowing machines
that will facilitate the removal and blowing off the chaffs from the milled rice and de-stoner
machines for removal of stones from the processed rice. Also, instead of sun-drying the
parboiled rice which takes a considerable length of time especially during the rainy season
farmers can employ the use of modern machines called driers that dry the rice grains within a

26
shorter period of time. Traditionally some farmers make use of their house ceilings made of
improved materials such as bamboos, rafters, and iron roofing sheets to dry rice due to the
heat they generate as a result of the sun’s rays. As noted from our interview with the farmers
some rice farmers winnow with baskets that do not allow for complete separation of the
processed rice from the chaffs. Also, the outdated de-stoner can still be found in some places
like Ifo, Lafenwa, Siun, and Owode. The basic source of energy for powering the parboiled
rice is basically firewood. Conversely, there are other modern methods that could be used
such as electricity and solar energy tramping equipment.
Another major processing challenge has to deal with water supply. In some of the areas
where rice is processed the nearest source of water supply is about 4 kilometers away from
the point of processing. So, the farmers will either dig boreholes or install big tanks for water
storage and this is capital intensive. The need for water supply arises particularly with the
nature of a variety of rice produced within Ogun State which Ofada rice in which case the
farmer needs to soak for 4 days to complete a process and another process begins. Before the
beginning of another process of soaking it is expected that the farmer replaces the old water
with a new one to avoid unnecessary odor. The soaking of the Ofada rice for 4 days is done
to bring out the aroma and taste that make it unique among other varieties.
h. Weak Linkages for Marketing of Rice Products
The issue of linkages relates to the marketing and distribution networks' challenges. There is
a need to link the rice farmers with the markets for the demands of their produce. In our
interview with the farmers, we discovered that the price of the rice products does not reflect
their real value. In this case, the farmers are at a loss. This occurs in instances where the
produced and packaged rice is being sold below the real value probably because the farmers
are in dire need of cash to solve some other problems and will have no other option than to
sell the rice at a price which is below what it would have been sold under normal
circumstances.

27
 CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
Information about the study area and other related data is rendered in this chapter, and
variables that have been netted for experimental work are described. It also comprises
practical models and expected behaviors of the respective variables.

3.2 DESCRIPTION OF THE STUDY AREA

Figure 3.1 Rice Producing Local Government Areas in Ogun State

The study was performed in Ogun State which is located in the southwest of Nigeria. It was
established in 1976, it margins Osun and Oyo states to the north, Lagos State to the south,
Republic of Benin to the west and the Ondo state to the east. The state's slogan is "Gateway
to Nigeria" and its largest city and capital is Abeokuta. It was established in February 1976.
The census recorded in 2006 a total population of 3,751,140 residents.
Ogun State has twenty local government. They are; Abeokuta South, Abeokuta North, Ado-
Odo/Ota, Ewekoro, Ifo, Ijebu East, Ijebu North, Ijebu North East, Ijebu Ode, Ikenne, Imeko
Afon, Ipokia, Obafemi Owode, Odogbolu, Odeda, Ogun Waterside, Remo North, Sagamu,
Yewa North (formerly Egbado North), Yewa South (formerly Egbado South). Other cities
and towns in the Ogun State are Ijebu Ode, Ijebu Imusin, Sagamu, Ijebu Igbo, Ogere Remo,
Iperu, Ilishan, Ikenne,odogbolu, Ilaro, Ayetoro, Agbado, Akute, and Ota. The state has
notable industrial estates in high concentration and is also known to be a major
28
manufacturing core in Nigeria. The Major factories in Ogun State include: Nestle, Dangote
Cement factory in Ibese, Procter & Gamble in Agbara, Lafarge Cement factory in Ewekoro,
Coleman Cables in Sagamu and Arepo, Memmcol in Orimerunmu, amongst others.
Rainfall ranges averagely between 105 cm in the north and 128 cm in the southern part of the
State per annum. Therefore, the main crops which are cultivated in the State are: cocoa,
cashew, cassava, coco-yam, yam, citrus species, cotton, maize, kola nut, oil palm, sugar cane,
pineapple, rubber, vegetables and rice. They constitute the major staple food and also make
raw materials available for food processing industries (OSG, 2016; Osabohien et al., 2017).

3.3 METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

Architectural case study begins with a citation of the physical properties of the subject. They
may demand the use of general methods of collecting data for theoretical research. However,
the method of data adopted is through a structured interview schedule, observation, visual
survey and case studies.
This research also was exploratory and comparative in nature. The research involves a
general survey of rice mills and a detailed study of salient characteristics of circulation,
flexible and adaptable spaces in the factory and its environment. The detailed study involves
case studies and some qualitative research methods. Some of the data obtained from the
survey and case studies are compared in order to determine the extent to which the rice mill
relates to their mode of operation. The data obtained from the survey of rice mill was used to
develop a scale based on which the rice mill will be accessed, and also the concept
development.

3.3.1 ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES

Records on the socio-economic qualities of the respondents were measured. To achieve this,
the following were analyzed;
• Sex: The respondents were documented for males and females respectively.
• Age of the farmers: The actual age in years mentioned was used in our data collation.
• Educational level: Respondents were asked to indicate their educational level. They
were recorded as follows:
- No formal education = 1,
- primary school attended = 2,
- secondary school attended = 3,
- OND/NCE = 4
29
 - first degree/HND = 5,
- M.Sc./Ph.D. = 6
• Marital status: Their marital status was categorized as follows:
- Single =1,
- Married = 2,
- Widow = 3,
- Divorce = 4,
- Separated = 5.
• Household size: The total number of individual members living together were
grouped as follows:
- 1 to 5 persons - Group A
- 6 – 10 persons - Group B,
- 11 – 15 persons - Group C and
- 16 persons and above - Group D.
• Access to financial support and credit facilities
• Farm size: The approximate total farmland cultivated by their household, measured in
hectares were recorded and grouped into:
- Less than 1 hectare- Group A,
- 5 hectares – Group B,
- 6 -10 hectares- Group C,
- 11-15 hectares – Group D,
- 16-20 hectares- Group E
- and above 21 hectares- Group F.
• Rice Mill Distance from Farm: The approximate distance of getting the rice paddies
to the processing site were recorded.
To determine main data sources on the technology used by the farmers, respondents were
asked to indicate their major sources of information on the technologies used; e.g. radio,
television, cooperatives, internet, USAID, friends/neighbors, fellow farmers, extension
agents, print media, telephone, community leaders, NGOs, private sectors, research institutes,
etc

30
3.4 PRODUCTION ACTIVITIES AND RICE MILLING
From the survey, it was discovered that both men and women are involved in the production
of rice and the final processing or milling stages. In Ogun State, it has been noted that most
processing stages need the full attention of manual labors. In virtually all the rice farms and
milling factories, the uprising demand of rice leaves the combined but strenuous efforts of the
men and women but with just few farmers having the right machineries to do the work for
them.
The information below were taken down;
• Site Location - ______________________
• Location of Paddies Delivery - ______________________
• Rice Mill size - _________ (Meter Square)
• Possible Need for Expansion Size - _________ (Meter Square)
• Milling Interior spaces (in Square meter) - _________ (Meter Square)
• Standard Space required for Machines - _________ (Meter Square)
• Milling Processing - 1, 2, 3, 4
• Packaging - 1, 2, 3, 4
• Daily Output Target - ______ (tonnes)/ Upon Request
• First Stage of Milling - ______________________
• Last Stage of Milling - ______________________
• Current Speed of Operation - Fast/ Average/ Slow
• Most Preferred Plant Layout - Product/ Line Layout
- Process/ Functional Layout
- Fixed Position
- Combination type
• Flow of Movement - Straight/
- Parallel/
- U-shaped/
- Zigzag
• Rice Milling System - One Step Milling
- Two step milling
- Multistage Milling
• Total Workers Needed at a Time - __________ (nos)

31
 • Standard Office sizes needed - _________ (Meter Square)
• Rice Paddies Storage Size - _________ (Meter Square)
• Milled Rice Storage Size - _________ (Meter Square)
• Distance of Admin Office from Rice Mill Far/ Fair Distance/ Short
• Admin Offices in Rice Mill Space - Yes/No
• Meeting up with output demand - Yes/No
• Green in the Office spaces - Yes/No
• Necessity of Trees and Shrubs in the environment - Yes/No
• Means of Bran/ Husk Disposal - Sale/ Reusable
• Entry and Exit of Delivery Van/ Truck - Good / Poor/ No Provision
• Other Questions jotted.

Men were identified more with the clearing and cultivation of rice but the women for
harvesting. Painstakingly, it takes the combined efforts of the men and women during the
milling and packaging of rice products with very few other farmers and rice mills having
standard machines and adequate space for processing and storage.
The tractors and other machines such as the dryer, dehusker, winnower, the miller, whitener,
the destined etc. are still in use but not verily available to the reach of most farmers. For the
few in use were locally fabricated which in turn are not very efficient in their output
demands. The arduous cost of purchase, hire, use and maintenance has made it gone beyond
the reach of the farmers.
NGOs, farmers’ companies and the organized private organizations are predicted to play vital
roles in extension and linkage between research and financial supports through potential
ability of the World Bank. The challenges of the situation on ground now is no longer very
encouraging due to the fact that no viable alternative exists for the current information and
technological know-how, space usage and marketing services. The smartest method would be
to search for possible and good capability of getting well informed data to plan the rice mill
as against proposed production output size, adequate circulation and future expansion.

3.5. DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION

Data collected on socio-economic characteristics were summarized using frequency,
percentage and mean score. Objectives 1 and 2 were also summarized using frequencies

32
and percentages. Case studies investigate phenomena within their real-life context (Myers,
2007). The data analysis collected on the visual survey and observation is based on the
explanatory accounts observed and noted by means of the data collection instruments (Veal,
2006). A brief introduction, an account of independent variables: special organization,
structure, form and dominant building materials, access to basic amenities and the size and
provision for future expansion. Instruments used in data presentation are plates, figures, and
tables, for more explicit illustrations.

3.6 LIMITATION OF THE METHODOLOGY

The empirical results reported herein should be considered in the light of some limitations
and challenges faced during the course of this project. They include:
• Issues with sample and selection – I had limitations of accesses to bigger factories and farms
with adequate tractors and milling machines.
• Lack of previous research studies on the topic – I have not had access to previous research
studies dealing with my exact topic which would have aided my structuring.
• Limited access to data – Most of the respondent I had contact with were subsistent farmers
and workers who have had accesses one time or the other to farms and the milling factories.
So, it was not very easy getting accurate date from the respondent.
• The pandemic caused by Corona Virus - The advent of the corona virus added to this reason
as everyone was skeptic about the social distance law, the national lockdown, who should
gain access to facilities and other necessary spaces at the moment.

However, these limitations were circumvented by phone calls through some of the farmers I
was able to get their contacts and staff of some major standard rice mill in the state. The
internet too is a pool of unending knowledge and was well maximized in this situation to gain
access to some data needed to facilitate my studies and aid my researches.

33
 CHAPTER FOUR
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 SELECTION AND METHODOLOGY
The most important consideration for selecting the case studies lies in the necessity to extract
information from the selected facility. The sampling technique applied to the selection is
purposive and this comprised of the local and international case studies. Purposive sampling,
as the name implies involves sampling with a purpose in mind. In this particular kind of
sampling, efforts are made to verify that the object of study does in fact meet the criteria for
being in the sample (Trochim W. M., 2006).
A checklist on the principles of circulation and adoption of technology in architecture were
used to evaluate and access the degree of application in mechanically operated rice mill. The
principles will form the variables on which the selected case studies will be analyzed.
(Feurstein, 2002). The principles include;
o CIRCULATION
- Machines: The positioning of the machines determine the production line
system to be adopted, which in turn affects movement of workers, equipment,
trucks, etc.
- Air: The arrangement of the internal spaces will long affect the movement of
air in and out of the spaces.
- Workers: The production line greatly have effects on the circulation pattern of
the workers.
o DESIGN
- Artistic Form: All buildings could be monolithic or a fusion of abstracted geometry
displaying simplicity of factory designs.
- Shading Device: Maximizing the use of the trees in external spaces and landscaping.

o ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS
- Building materials; Roof, walls, and floors should have a low thermal conductivity
- Large openings should be provided on north-south walls and adequate shading on east-
west walls.

o Site planning: Adequate spacing for its individual supporting buildings is required to
allow air inflow in and around buildings. Every available spaces should be well
maximized with greeneries to aid an ecofriendly space for relaxation and ease of biotic
and abiotic stress for workers.
34
 o GEOMORPHIC CONSIDERATIONS
- Building footprint: There should be minimal interference with natural topography with
well-related positioning with one another.
- Building forms and aesthetics: Integrating all structures and provided facilities to the
existing site features.
- Preservation of natural features: Preservation of most trees, shrubs, and other natural site
features.

4.2 CASE STUDY ONE: IBK RICE MILL, ITA-ALAPO, IJEBU-ODE, OGUN
STATE.
Name: IBK Rice
Location: Ita – Alapo, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.
Function: Rice Milling and Distribution.
Structure: Mini Structure Rice Mill uses locally fabricated machines

Figure 4.1: Location of IBK Rice Mill, Ita Alapo, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.
4.2.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION
IBK Rice, Ita-Alapo is an indigenous producing rice mill located at a serene environment
along the Ita-alapo street. IBK collects most of its rice paddies for white rice milling and
Ofada too with most of the brokens sold to the Hausa community for the making of tuwo.
The factory was built with the façade directly facing the major road of Ita-Alapo with a mini
access for bring in their raw materials and rice paddies into the rice paddy warehouse.
IBK Rice mills their paddies into white milled rice upon demand from customers. So, they
produced based on total demanded from their customers for the day or week, months etc.

35
 4.2.2 FACILITIES
A. The Rice Paddy Warehouse
B. The Drive-in
C. Finished Goods Store
D. Toilets
E. Rice Mill
F. Rice Bran Store
G. Reception
H. MD’s Office
I. Gate House and
J. Generator House

Figure 4.2 Ground Floor Plan of IBK Rice Mill

36
 Plate 4.1 -1.5m deep Pit for Soaking of the Rice Paddies

Plate 4.2 – The Rice Paddy Steaming/ Parboiling Machine

Plate 4.3 – The Drier Plate 4.4 – The Rice Mill

The delivery trucks bringing in paddies use the mini access road to make entry into the
warehouse, from which the paddies in stacked bags are collected for milling. Rice paddies
from the warehouse are then taken manually into the soaking pit to be left for about 7 –
8hours (some are left for 24hours too). The Ofada rice paddies are left in the soaking pit
which are about 1.5m deep, for 5 days to separate empty paddies before its scooped into the
Paddy Parboiling Tank. After this, the paddies are taken into the drier where the main rice
milling processing begins. IBK rice have many staff in operation, ranging from the managing
Director, Chairman, Chief Operator, Accountant. Sanitary office, Director of Operations, and
sales representatives.

37
 Plate 4.5 – The Rice Mill Destoner Plate 4.6 – The Rice Bran Collector

4.2.3 MAJOR FACILITIES

THE RICE PADDY WAREHOUSE
The warehouse space is about 108metre square with the height of about 6metres. It contains
palleted stacks of brown paddies and Ofada rice paddies ready to be processed.
RICE BRAN STORE
During the whitening process, the bran collected are stored in this store which in turn, are
used for fuel during the parboiling of the paddies.
PROCESSING HOUSE
After the soaking and steaming, the paddies are brought into this space and taken into the
drier, expecting the rice without its husks to dry to 14% using the moist tester to confirm this.
The line of operation is more of the U-form, with the bagging done in same space. The
bagged rice is then carried into the store and kept on the pallets.
Other facilities
- The staff offices
- The reception
- Gate house
- Generator house
- Toilets

ARCHITECTURAL VARIABLES DESCRIPTION

Dominant Building Materials Reinforced concrete, blockwalls, steel, and
38
 aluminium partitioning
Main Structural System Reinforced concrete columns and hidden beams
supporting the long span of space in the rice mill
Spatial organization Machines are arranged in a U-shaped production
line
Environmental feature Surrounding was not maximized to the highest
because there were no paces for greens,
Source: Authors fieldwork (2014)
Table 4.1: Descriptions of Architectural Variables at IBK Rice Mill, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State

PRINCIPLES REQUIREMENT DESCRIPTION REMARK

DEVELOPMENT • Use of nature as site form The building plan is Neutral
as source of inspiration rectangular taking site
• Use of nature’s evolution form.
as design concept No influence from
nature
CIRCULATION • improper zoning of It is an open plan Neutral
functional spaces design.
• Average site planning and Maximum use of the
zoning spaces for its function
but some after-thoughts
• Use of sustainable building Heavy dependence on Positive
ENVIRONMENTAL
ECONOMICS materials diesel and fuel for
• Use of renewable energy generator and unstable
• Use of day lighting electricity for energy
source.
GEOMORPHIC • Preservation of natural No interference with Neutral
CONSIDERATIONS landscape the topography and no
• Minimal interference with use of landscape within
natural topography the spaces.
• Minimal construction
waste

39
Source: Authors fieldwork (2014)
Table 4.2: Assessment of the Principles of Circulation Design Principle of IBK Rice Mill,
Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State

4.3. CASE STUDY TWO: ZURU RICE MILL, KEBBI STATE, NIGERIA
Name: Zuru Rice
Location: Kebbi State, Nigeria.
Function: Complete Rice Parboiling and Milling Plant.
Structure: Mini Structure Rice Mill uses medium scale locally fabricated machines
4.3.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The complete rice parboiling and milling plant produces 4 tonnes per day. The rice plant is
located on a land housing the rice paddy warehouse, the stores and car parks. Since it is a
medium stage milling, there was no need for the silos but a dependent on the same rice mill
for the storage too. There are 3 entrance gates to the rice mill. One to serves for the staff car
park and the remaining two for the service trucks. The bran store and the sludge are well
hidden from sight.

Figure 4.3: Site Plan of Zuru Rice Mill

4.3.2 MAJOR FACILITIES

40
 Zuru Rice Mill has few locally fabricated equipped facilities to carry out its whole rice
milling processing, which all are in the rice mill warehouse. To aid its production out to
maximum, the facilities have only;
A. Gate House
B. The Rice mill and the warehouse
C. Generator house
D. Bran Store
E. Car parks for 4 Admin

Plate 4.6: Inclined elevator delivers paddy grain via aspirator

The Inclined elevator delivers paddy grain via aspirator to pre-cleaner on platform, feeding
into existing destoner. The high capacity batching hopper on the right, allows rapid discharge
of clean paddy into parboiling tanks.

Plate 4.7. The overhead soaking tanks

The overhead soaking tanks are conveniently accessed by a steel staircase. the inclined
elevator delivers paddy to feed the tanks.
41
 Plate 4.8. The multistage rice mill
The multistage rice mill is mounted on a platform for convenient discharge, after sifting of
Brokens, directly into sacking hopper with automatic weighing machine.

Plate 4.9 The rice mill with bucket elevated feed.

The cyclones attached are fabricated and attached to the mill to collect the rice bran.

42
 Plate 4.10 The twin soaking and steaming tanks
The twin soaking and steaming tanks, positioned directly above the batch drier, allow rapid
discharge and convenient operation.
ARCHITECTURAL VARIABLES DESCRIPTION
Dominant Building Materials Reinforced concrete, blockwalls, steel, and
aluminium partitioning
Main Structural System Reinforced concrete columns and hidden beams
supporting the long span of space in the rice mill
Spatial organization Machines are arranged in a U-shaped production
line
Environmental feature Surrounding was not maximized to the highest
because there were no paces for greens,
Table 4.3: Descriptions of Architectural Variables at Zuru Rice Mill. Kebbi state, Nigeria.

PRINCIPLES REQUIREMENT DESCRIPTION REMARK

DEVELOPMENT • Use of nature as site form The building plan is neutral
as source of inspiration rectangular taking site
• Use of nature’s evolution form.
as design concept No influence from
nature
CIRCULATION • Proper zoning of It is an open plan Positive
functional spaces design.
• Proper site planning and Maximum use of the

43
 zoning spaces for maximum
function
• Use of sustainable building Heavy dependence on Negative
ENVIRONMENTAL
ECONOMICS materials diesel and fuel for
• Use of renewable energy generator and unstable
• Use of day lighting electricity for energy
source.
GEOMORPHIC • Preservation of natural No interference with Neutral
CONSIDERATIONS landscape the topography and no
• Minimal interference with use of landscape within
natural topography the spaces.
• Minimal construction
waste

Table 4.4: Assessment of the Principles of Circulation Design Principle of Zuru Rice Mill.
Kebbi State, Nigeria.

4.4. CASE STUDY THREE: T.K RICE MILL AND ASH CO. LTD
4.4.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Company: Family Owned Corporation
Date Established: July 2000
Location: Bangpasi, Banglen Nakornpathom, Thailand.

Plate 4.11: Site Ariel View of T.K Rice Mill and Ash Co. Ltd
44
 T.K. Rice Mill and Ash Co., Ltd has been established providing top quality rice for the
international markets. They supply milled rice within the states and abroad. The company is a
subsidiary of Thanyakit Nakorn Pathom (2521) rice mill which is also located in the Nakorn
Pathom province. T.K rice mill have the largest available land dedicated for
growing Thai long grain paddies all year long. They are dedicated for milling Thai long grain
paddies to white rice.
The rice mill capacity is 300 mt/ day with very large silos capable of holding up to 10,000
metric tonnes of Thai long grain paddies and 5,000 Metric Tonnes of raw Thai long
Grain white rice. The factory site was fully maximized with fully equipped infrastructures.

Figure 4.4: Site Ariel View of T.K Rice Mill and Ash Co. Ltd
4.4.2 FACILITIES
T.K Rice Mill and Ash. Co. Ltd has 13 fully equipped facilities to carry out its whole rice
milling processing and factory management to aid its production out to maximum.
F. Gate House
G. Staff Dormitory
H. Mini Clinic
I. Kitchen
J. Admin Block
K. Intake Area
L. Finished Goods Storage
M. Rice Mill 1
N. Storage Area 1
O. Rice Mill 2
P. Storage Area 2
45
Q. Workshop
R. Powerhouse
S. Warehouse
T. Water Treatment House
U. Maintenance Unit

Plate 4.12: The Silos of T.K Rice Mill and Ash Co. Ltd

Plate 4.13: Rice Mill-Process-Production-Line

46
 Plate 4.14: T.K Rice Intake Structure

Plate 4.15: T.K Rice machines installation

ARCHITECTURAL VARIABLES DESCRIPTION

Dominant Building Materials Reinforced concrete, blockwalls, steel, and
aluminium partitioning
Main Structural System Reinforced concrete columns and hidden beams
supporting the long span of space in the rice mill
Spatial organization Machines are arranged in a U-shaped production
line
Environmental feature Surrounding was not maximized to the highest

47
 because there were no paces for greens,
Table 4.5: Descriptions of Architectural Variables at Zuru Rice Mill. Kebbi State, Nigeria.

PRINCIPLES REQUIREMENT DESCRIPTION REMARK

DEVELOPMENT • Use of nature as site form The building plan is neutral
as source of inspiration rectangular taking site
• Use of nature’s evolution form.
as design concept No influence from
nature
CIRCULATION • Proper zoning of It is an open plan Positive
functional spaces design.
• Proper site planning and Maximum use of the
zoning spaces for maximum
function
• Use of sustainable building Heavy dependence on Negative
ENVIRONMENTAL
ECONOMICS materials diesel and fuel for
• Use of renewable energy generator and unstable
• Use of day lighting electricity for energy
source.
GEOMORPHIC • Preservation of natural No interference with Neutral
CONSIDERATIONS landscape the topography and no
• Minimal interference with use of landscape within
natural topography the spaces.
• Minimal construction
waste

Table 4.6: Assessment of the Principles of Circulation Design Principle of Zuru Rice Mill.
Kebbi State, Nigeria.
Source: Authors fieldwork (2014).

48
 CHAPTER FIVE
DESIGN REPORT
5.1 THE SITE
The site has been divided into four headings such as site selection, site location, site analysis
and site conceptual development.
5.1.1 SITE SELECTION
The site which is located at Papalanto-Sagamu Road, Ogun state
The characteristics of the site are:
- 157,170m2; 15.717 Hectares; 38.838 Acres
- Close to the Main Papalanto-Sagamu Road
- It has steep slope at some area but about 90% very gentle slopes.
- The site is about 70% heavy forested with large trees and 20% short plants and shrubs
and 10% sandy soils.
- It is well accessible
- Very much possibilities for expansion and possible land for rice farming.

Figure 5.1: Location Map of the Site

5.1.2 SITE SELECTION CRITERIA
Choosing an appropriate site for the rice mill is of paramount importance. This is because
establishing the rice mill business under commercial zoning and certain criteria, one has to
put into consideration the following:

49
Criteria Grade Remark
Location accessibility 5 Near the access road
Closeness to neighbouring 5 Nearness to the Iro Market
resources and Ofada farm
Size of site and possibility 5 The site is large enough for
for expansion rice farm (size in hectares)
Visual aesthetic potential 5 positive
Land Use Compliance 5 Positive
Energy resources 5 Use of local materials and
even the rice husks for
generation of energy
Soil nature for possible rice 5 positive
farming
Table 5.1: Site Selection Criteria Table

5.1.3 SITE LOCATION

Figure 5.2: Land Suitability Map

Ogun state has almost 50% of the arable soil considered as highly suitable for the cultivation
of upland rice. This is a bit surprising given the long years of rice cultivation in the area one
would expect the soil to be generally deficient in critical rice soil nutrients. It is explained
50
that most farmers adopting the rotational fallow system, which in turn have somehow
perfected a form of land management strategy that ensured quick replenishment of soil
nutrients. This then, makes Ewekoro local government of Ogun state a good site for rice
farming and a rice processing mill.

5.1.4 SITE ANALYSIS

The site chosen has the following characteristics
i. The site falls under the listed and tested soil area with high suitability for rice farming.
ii. It is at a location closer to the Ogun river, a natural irrigation source for the vicinity.
iii. It also has easy accesses from the major road and major rice farms, i.e. the Ofada
farms and other notable places like Oja Odan, Omo Forestry Reserve, Owode,
Aiyetoro, Ibeshe, Ado-odo, Alakuko etc.
iv. Possesses large trees and is not constrained by rocks or any adverse soil conditions.

Figure 5.3: Land Analysis

i. Access: The site is accessed through the Papalanto-Sagamu Road on the Northern part
of the site. This will be met with a newly created road specially to connect with the
proposed roads that lead to the proposed site.

51
 ii. Vegetation: The vegetation is characterized by a large tree and few grasses with
shrubs and other parts with bare soil. The vegetation is mostly ever green gaining
altitude. Site to be well landscaped and trees planted and reduce solar radiation and
avoid soil erosion
iii. Utilities: There is existing of setbacks and airspaces for distances of site to existing
building and roads which is more than 10m to the road. High Tension line, electricity
poles, sewer line, waterline, telecoms network are presently not available on site.
iv. Wind: Two major air masses dominate the state;
a. North East Trade Winds: Tropical Continental air mass which is dry, cold
and dusty, influences harmattan. The wind velocity is very high in almost half
the year mostly in October to February.A proposal to apply soft landscape
(Trees and shrubs) to be used as shield and air filter so as to curb the dust
effect.
b. South West Trade Winds: Tropical Maritime air mass which influences
rainfall around April to October. This has influence on local climate as it is
moist due to its development over Atlantic Ocean. Fenestration should best be
in this direction to maximally harness the cool breeze for thermal comfort.
v. Orientation of Buildings: The Longer side of the building should face northeast
direction to reduce hot discomfort. Due to solar radiation, shorter sides of the building
should then be on the east- west sides.

5.1.5 SITE CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT

Figure 5.4: The Conceptual Development of the Site and the Facilities
52
The quality of being accessible or admitting approach; being receptive is one system adopted
in the design of the rice mill. The features increasing its ease to the space usability; large span
interior spaces without column because large spanned spaces are achievable with the use of
the post and lintel structure, using steel. The consciousness to strategic landscaping and
selection of flora through the spaces is as well consciously considered within the site. Ease to
site entry and exit, largely considering softness to the circulation pattern of staff/ people,
machine, pedestrian and vehicular.

5.2 DESIGN BRIEF

Commercial milling systems mill the paddy in stages, and hence are called multi-stage or
multi-pass rice mills. The objective of commercial rice milling is to reduce mechanical
stresses and heat build-up in the grain, thereby minimizing grain breakage and producing
uniformly polished grain. Compared to village-level systems, the commercial milling system
is a more sophisticated system configured to maximize the process of producing well-milled,
whole grains. The rice milling facility comes in various configurations, and the milling
components vary in design and performance. “Configuration” refers to how the components
are sequenced. The flow diagram of the rice mill has three basic stages, the husking stage, the
whitening-polishing stage, and the grading, blending, and packaging stage. So it is ensured
that in the design of the rice mill, circulation is well considered so as to see to the easy flow
of people, air and vehicular accesses as well and the well adopted landscape in the site to
reduce any biotic and abiotic stress of workers.
Depending on the ecological affordances on the site, the designs optimizes the use of
vegetation and other physical features so as to maintain the original site ecology as much as
possible. This will reduce environmental degradation and CO2 emission thereby making the
facilities environmental-friendly (a product of eco-architecture). The amount of energy
consumed in construction during landfills and excavation from the site is greatly reduced by
designing, planning, zoning, and landscaping in harmony to the site.

5.3. BRIEF FORMULATION

From the case studies, it has been drawn that the rice mill driven by ICT and technological
advanced machines and equipment sufficient enough to produce the needed annual need of
rice in a country and as well take out the need of importation of rice shelters some major and

53
important facilities. Hence, the design requirements can be categorized into: Staffing,
Supporting Facilities, Machines, Wastes, Housings, Maintenance, Transport and Power.

Figure 5.5: Design Requirements Diagram

- SUPPORTING FACILITIES
They are also known as related facilities and they mean any structure, proposed to be
constructed in connection with the construction of a main structure or design. They are the
secondary structures to support the primary structure(s). the included facilities proposed in
this design include car parks, gate house, security posts, kitchen, emergency unit, clinic,
dressing rooms, restaurant etc.
- MAINTENANCE UNITS
Maintenance is the process of ensuring that buildings and other assets retain a good
appearance and operate at optimum efficiency. Inadequate maintenance can result in decay,
degradation, and reduced performance, and can affect health and threaten the safety of users,
occupants and other in the vicinity. Depending on the design of the rice mill, quality of
materials and workmanship, function and location, building deteriorate at different rates and
require different levels of attention. Therefore, it is required we provide maintenance for the
Trucks, the machines, power house, the buildings and spaces and the site in general.
- HOUSING
They are referred to the construction of houses or buildings collectively, for the purpose of
sheltering people. The Rice mill at its capacity, would need lodgings, dwellings or shelters to
retain most workers and staff within site for the period of shift operation for efficient
performance and output of production.

54
 - WASTE MANAGEMENT

Figure 5.6: The Waste Management System

Waste management or disposal is another factor that is needed to be greatly considered in the
development of a rice mill design. It includes the activities and actions required to manage
waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment,
and disposal of waste together with monitoring and regulation of the waste management
process. It is very important to reduce the adverse effects of the wastes generated in the rice
mill on the heath of workers, the community and the environment.
- TRANSPORTATION

Figure 5.7: The Vehicle Management Structure

For the rice mill, transportation is another very important factor that can not be left out. This
is greatly influenced by the location of the rice paddy, location of the rice mill site from the

55
farm (the collection points) and from the end users (customers). This deals with tracking and
managing every aspect of vehicle maintenance, fuel costing, routing and mapping,
warehousing, communications, traveler and cargo handling, exportation, carrier selection,
management and accounting.
- POWER MANAGEMENT
This is the feature of the power system, generating and distribution of power to all needed
appliances, gadgets, machines and building alike in proportion to the capacity needed. Most
of the units most likely to consume power for its use include: weighbridge, power room,
ticketing, offices, ICT, waste recycling, milling, hoppers etc.
- MACHINERIES
Before the rice grains goes into the main milling system, it is taken through the Parboiling
stage which consist of the Soaking, Steaming and Drying.
- STAFFING
The rice mills consist of able hands in various levels to run the factory’s activities for
maximum production. Staffing is defined as the process of hiring eligible candidates in the
organization or company for specific positions. In management, the meaning of staffing is an
operation of recruiting the employees by evaluating their skills, knowledge and then offering
them specific job roles accordingly.

Figure 5.8: The Organizational Structure

So, this has been identified under Four heads: staffing in Admin, Security, the Labour Force
and in the Transportation.
Specific spatial requirements of each of the identified categories are outlined below:

56
 - ADMINISTRATIVE SPACES:
The Administrative spaces are those empowered to run the activities of the International
Expo Centre. Personnel hierarchy plays a vital role in such administration. The spaces shall
include the following; a) Entrance/Reception: The Entrance hall provides a reception point,
and an information display point (IDP). Adequate circulation space is provided to ease traffic
particularly at peak periods. Easy access to stairways, changing rooms, access road, bran and
husk stores within site, flow in storage area within warehouse. This is emphasized in the
design.

5.3.1 DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

For the purpose of design flexibility and circulation of a rice mill, certain design
considerations must be addressed. These considerations are inherent from the principles or
design strategies to be adopted in order to achieve the design goals. In order to design a fully
functional Rice Mill, other design considerations such as the ones listed below must be
considered.
Principles Meaning Usage
Circulation This is a free flow of spaces This entails the presence of open
spaces, interconnection among
spaces and the use of free flow
forms
Functionality This is the ability to perform a Every space is constructed for its
task or function, that set of purpose and not a substitute for
functions that the facilities are another use.
able or equipped to perform
Accessibility The quality of being accessible The Site is not located in anywhere
or admitting approach; hidden and all structure are
receptiveness aesthetically inviting.
Future Expansion This is ability to increase or The use of larger grids that can be
reduce the size of a building or sub divided adaption of service
space within the building system that allows for expansion
e.g demountable wall used
Waste Control
Operability This is the ability to be operated All machine fabricated to
57
 or used for its intended purpose. engineer’s details and positioning
Maintenance The actions performed to keep The use of durable materials with
the machines or the system minimum maintenance but with
functioning or in service. continuity of maintenance to keep
the site, machine and buildings at
full operations.
Health and Safety First aid provision and the Provision of spaces for medical
prevention, treatment and unit, nursing and allied professions
management of the health and
physical well-being of the staff
and workers
Table 5.2: Design Considerations
i. Accessibility: Created accesses all-round the rice mill for connecting route, walkways, within and
around the rice mill.
ii. Acoustics: Within the Exhibition hall, acoustics should be controlled. Functional zones should be
provided with surface or sub-surface material to interrupt the structural transmission of sound, noise
levels should be controlled within zones by appropriate choices of material finishes on floors, walls
and ceilings, and the shaping of in spaces to prevent flutter and unwanted amplifying effects.
iii. Accessibility: Various means of access within and around the building are staircases, hallways,
gateways, walkways, access road will serve in enhancing access.
iv. Visual considerations: every part of the structure should not be too monotonous in design but
designed to be visually pleasing.
v. Lighting: Effort towards achieving natural lighting minimizing artificial lighting should be
encouraged. Experiments carried out in America indicate that there has been a steady increase in the
use of artificial lighting instead of day-lighting. (Architects‟ Data).
vi. Flexibility in Arrangement: The machines can be made flexible in order to use the same space for
other activities. They can be retractable, foldable, sliding walls can be curtain material or demountable
partitions.

5.3.2 ADJACENCIES AND CRITERIA MATRIX

This shows the relationship between spaces in the facility. It is the table showing the desired
proximity of work space elements and functions to each other.

58
Figure 5.9: Adjacencies Matrix 1 Figure 5.9.1: Adjacencies Matrix 2
5.3.3 SITE PLANNING AND LANDSCAPING

Figure 5.10: The Proposed Site Plan

The site planning considerations involves both the vehicular and pedestrian area with the vast
area development of lawns, trees and shrubs within the external areas on site. The Admin
block is centrally located with the aim of having it become the first point to relate to upon
entry. It is embraced with a simple form of squares and rectangles in all the designs. The site
also consists of about 75% of its area landscaped, with parking spaces for rice paddy trucks
and cars. There are 2 lines of production system in the arrangements; 8 numbers of 2500
59
tonnes of silos on line A and 8 numbers of 2500 tonnes of silos on line B. The intake area, the
precleaner, parboiler, steaming tanks and drier is built just beside the silos before the rice mill
structure and storage warehouse attached to each other for free flow to final output.
Other facilities come around the structure; such as the truck maintenance unit and the staff
house. To aid maximum production outputs, the rice farm has been positioned to the western
area of the site with its Area as 45,596.408meter square. The power station and the ETP
(Effluent Treatment Plant) are also placed at the southwestern area of the site. In this
position, there is yet easy access for trucks without difficulty.

5.3.4 SPATIAL ORGANIZATION

The buildings consist of simple rectangular shaped structure closely arranged for easy access
by workers and staff linked by well landscaped environment with trees, lawns and short
shrubs.
In all, we have the gatehouse, admin block, maintenance block, staff apartment, intake area,
precleaner, parboiling tanks, cooker, driers, silos, rice mill, packaging area, finished goods
store, warehouse, cafeteria, emergency unit, clinic, car park, trailer park, the ETP and waste
stores. These structures are all arranged in line to their relationship with each other.
Floor Plan

Figure 5.11: The Proposed Ground Floor Plan

The floor plans of the main building are rectangular at both end with rectangular entrances in
between the design. The plan is on a basic grid of 5500m horizontally and 5000m high
vertically on horizontal steel platforms on which the milling machine are fabricated to a total
height of +20m height of building. The building plans are four floor plans upwards, with the
60
spaces created on each floor which serves many purposes such as the (the operating rooms
and machine panel space). The design method and grid are made with such possibility for
vertical expansion. When demarcated, spaces are enough. These spaces can be converted to
serve new functions both on temporal and permanent basis due to the use of the steel sections
of post and lintel methods. The floor plans also consist of large open space which serves to
provide lighting and enhanced ventilation from the roof skylight and exhaust fans. These
forms were incorporated so as to break monotony and create a bit of contrast whiles
maintaining harmony among the buildings. The aesthetics of the structure are glazing, open
steel grids ceiling with skylights, steel pipe columns, long walkway around the main rice mill
to the finished product warehouse. The supporting facilities include the utility room, the
anteroom, dust and bran room.The Administrative building is designed to be flexible and
multi-functional in nature, thus some strategies were employed to achieve it; these strategies
include: the use of mobile partition walls, the use of cladding as skin for the building, the use
of wider grids, provision of higher headrooms with the use of large windows which fosters
fluidity and a host of other strategies employed to make that building serve its intended
functions of a flexible and adaptable building.

5.3.5 FORM AND ELEVATIONS

The form of the building is derived from the vertical stacking of the individual floors to
create a structure that is aesthetically pleasing and one that functions well for the purpose of
the rice mill. A conscious attempt was made to make the façade symbolic of the rice mill
concepts for achieving the desired result.

Figure 5.12: The Proposed Left Side Elevation

61
 Figure 5.13: The Proposed Approach Elevation
5.3.6 BUILDING FORM AND ARCHITECTURAL EXPRESSION
The materials used for the construction of the proposed rice mill consists of a wide variety
ranging from steel to concrete which serve as the major structural materials, glazing, precast
concrete beams, steel posts and lintels, aluminium roofing sheets for aesthetical wall cladding
and aluminium composite panels which serve as internal cladding curtain wall materials,
Titanium cladding, absorption of the sun’s rays and lighting to the advantage of the interior
spaces internally, laminated glass for windows, polystyrene panels for interior partitioning
and a host of other specific materials for specialist functions as determined by experts from
the different fields of construction.
The structural system adopted for the administrative building is a steel and concrete
composite frame structure. This structural system will best suite the design by providing
optimum support for the building’s dead and imposed loading. The addition of concrete to
cover the steel members is an added advantage in terms of additional strength and for the
protection of the steel members against conditions such as fire.

62
 CHAPTER SIX
CONCLUSION AND COMMENDATIONS
6.1 GENERAL INFERENCE
The rice mills studied possess forms inspired in the design process to encourage user
patronage and attract interest with little considerations to nature preservation, human
accommodation, thermal zoning and other climatic and energy demands.
Most of the rice mill studied are still far behind in the use of modern technology in their rice
processing, due to their limitation to their knowledge of the advent of current machines to aid
fast and efficient output, and the limitations to government support and financial aid of loans
for investment.
The factory designs, along with the above consideration of finances however designed should
also consider ecological architectural guidelines which are in harmony with their surrounding
either through form, planning, and climatic considerations as this will ultimately enhance
accessibility of the different functional spaces.
Locally produced & readily available materials found great use in all the buildings studied
but the use of steel as reinforcements seem to be the best in this case, considering project
time, flexibility, large spanning, eco-friendly material, and future expansion either
horizontally or vertically. This element is prominently used in buildings, warehouses and
factories with complicated frame structures.
All the buildings considered did not use renewable energy sources to its fullest potential but
attempted to reduce excess energy consumption through passive means.

6.2 CONTRIBUTION OF THE STUDY TO KNOWLEDGE

i. 40% of the rice mill studied exhibited the application of eco-architecture in the building
materials, while all of them exhibited these principles through the use of passive ventilation,
and day lightning and relied little on application of green material due to their less durable
nature and the desire to achieve long lasting structures.
ii. 85% studied had little or no landscape features for modification of micro climate to induce
comfort and improve the facilities living qualities.
iii. These findings reveal the fact that most rice mill employs little or no obvious energy efficient
measures into the design of its structures. This is mainly due to lack of provision of
alternative renewable sources of energy and use of sustainable design measures; they

63
however try to reduce energy consumption through spatial zoning, insulation, and use of
materials in the long run.
6.3 RECOMMENDATION
Based on the case studied, application of basic design principles and adoption of landscape
would be achieved through certain considerations to respond to the internal and external
energy or environmental challenges of certain rice mill in Nigeria. These considerations
include:
- Eco building considerations: need for mechanically induced comfort. Respect for
the user involves creating spaces that provides as much thermal and visual comfort
through passive means (day lightning, passive ventilation and cooling,) or renewable
energy sources (solar panels/photovoltaic panels) which have not been fully explored
in the studied cases.
There is a need for basic facilities provided to suite the site location, and well oriented to
subsequently cater for the rice milling and other necessary activities to be carried out.
- Natural forms: Architects learn to use natural forms from observing living
structures; trees, bones, wing webs, microscopic creatures etc. they are the forms of
life and growth and have been key inspirations to organic architecture. Adapting
simple nature form and function would provide sustainable solutions to environmental
and energy needs.
- Alternative energy: It however noted in the studies cases that an alternate source of
energy was not widely explored in the design of most of the rice mill in Nigeria. But,
when considering the principle of green architecture against the provided alternative
energy, the facilities failed to become environmentally friendly even if the use of the
towns power grid was avoided. This should be considered however in further to
reduce energy consumption in the proposed rice mill facilities.
- Designing with the climate: The use of the prevailing climatic conditions to the
advantage in designing, has shown to reduce excess energy consumption required in
cooling, heating, ventilation, and lighting of spaces. This is displayed in the zoning
(site zoning) and spatial relationship between the Rice Mill facilities. This feature
made passive ventilation and cooling possible in the studied rice mill design.
- Location of Facilities: Distant of the rice mill to markets as a result of poor road
conditions and high transport costs were identified as factors that hamper improved
market access for paddy rice farmers. Therefore, the rice mill should be linked to both

64
 the rural and urban market to attract good value for rice products thereby enhancing
profitability and living standard of the farmers especially those in the rural areas,
which in turn will aid large and maximum productivity.
- Designing with site: Depending on the ecological affordances on the site, the designs
should optimize the use of vegetation and other physical features especially in rice
mills so as to maintain the original site ecology as much as possible. This will reduce
environmental degradation and CO2 emission thereby making the facilities
environmental-friendly (a product of eco-architecture). The amount of energy
consumed in construction during landfills and excavation from the site is greatly
reduced by designing, planning, zoning, and landscaping in harmony to the site.

65
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 APPENDICES

APPENDIX I: SITE PLAN

APPENDIX II: GROUND FLOOR PLAN

70
 APPENDIX III: FIRST FLOOR PLAN

APPENDIX IV: SECOND FLOOR PLAN

71
APPENDIX V: THIRD FLOOR PLAN

APPENDIX VI: ROOF PLAN

APPENDIX VII: SECTION E – E

72
 APPENDIX VIII: SECTION D – D

APPENDIX IX: SECTION B – B

APPENDIX X: APPROACH ELEVATION

73
 APPENDIX XI: REAR ELEVATION

APPENDIX XII: LEFT SIDE ELEVATION

APPENDIX XIII: RIGHT SIDE ELEVATION

74
 APPENDIX XIV: INTAKE AREA: GROUND FLOOR PLAN

APPENDIX XV: INTAKE AREA: GROUND FLOOR PLAN @ 0.0MM

75
APPENDIX XVI: INTAKE AREA: 1ST TO 3RD FLOOR PLAN

APPENDIX XVII: INTAKE AREA: FOURTH FLOOR PLAN

76
 APPENDIX XVIII: INTAKE AREA: 5TH AND 6TH FLOOR PLAN

APPENDIX XIX: INTAKE AREA: ROOF PLAN AND SECTION A – A

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 APPENDIX XX: SECTION B – B AND SECTION C – C

APPENDIX XXI: SECTION D – D AND APPROACH ELEVATION

APPENDIX XXII: REAR ELEVATION AND DETAILS

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APPENDIX XXIII: RIGHT AND LEFT ELEVATION

APPENDIX XXIV: SILOS: PLANS AND ELEVATION

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 APPENDIX XXV: SILOS: DETAILS OF PLATFORM

APPENDIX XXVI: ADMIN BUILDING: GROUND FLOOR PLANS

80
APPENDIX XXVII: ADMIN BUILDING: FIRST FLOOR PLANS

APPENDIX XXVIII: ADMIN BUILDING: ELEVATIONS

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APPENDIX XXIX: ADMIN BUILDING: SCHEMATIC 3D PERSPECTIVES

APPENDIX XXX: RESTAURANT: GROUND FLOOR PLAN

APPENDIX XXXI: RESTAURANT: PROPOSED APPROACH ELEVATION

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 APPENDIX XXXII: RESTAURANT: SECTION AND ELEVATION

APPENDIX XXXIII: CLINIC/ DOMITORY: GROUND FLOOR PLAN

APPENDIX XXXIV: CLINIC/ DOMITORY: ELEVATION AND PERSPECTIVE

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APPENDIX XXXV: EMERGENCY UNIT: FLOOR PLANS

84
APPENDIX XXXVI: EMERGENCY UNIT: SCHEMATIC 3D PERSPECTIVES

APPENDIX XXXVII: CHANGING ROOM: GROUND FLOOR PLAN

85
APPENDIX XXXVIII: CHANGING ROOM: ELEVATIONS AND PERSPECTIVES

APPENDIX XXXIX: TRUCK MAINTENANCE: FLOOR PLAN AND SECTION

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 APPENDIX XL: TRUCK MAINTENANCE: ELEVATIONS

APPENDIX XLI: TRUCK MAINTENANCE: SCHEMATIC PERSPECTIVES

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APPENDIX XLII: STAFF QUARTERS: FLOOR PLANS

APPENDIX XLIII: STAFF QUARTERS: ROOF PLAN

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APPENDIX XLIV: STAFF QUARTERS: PLAN AND ELEVATIONS

APPENDIX XLV: 3D VIEW OF ADMIN UNIT (I)

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 APPENDIX XLVI: 3D VIEW OF ADMIN UNIT (II)

APPENDIX XLVII: 3D VIEW OF PROPOSED RICE MILL (I)

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 APPENDIX XLVIII: 3D VIEW OF PROPOSED RICE MILL (II)

APPENDIX XLIX: 3D VIEW OF PROPOSED SITE- INTAKE AREA

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APPENDIX L: 3D VIEW OF PROPOSED SITE (I)

APPENDIX LI: 3D VIEW OF PROPOSED SITE (II)

92