Dangote to Invest $4.6b in Agriculture

Africa’s richest man and President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, plans to invest $3.8 billion in sugar and rice and $800 million in dairy production in the next three years.

The move is part of the billionaire’s strategy to expand his business and also deal with a shortage of dollars needed to import raw materials.

The conglomerate plans to increase its production of sugar to 1.5 million metric tons a year by 2020 from 100,000 tons now and is seeking to add 1 million tons of rice, Edwin Devakumar, executive director at Dangote’s industries unit, disclosed in an interview with Bloomberg, on Tuesday, in Lagos.

The company also plans to have 50,000 cattle producing 500 million liters of milk a year by 2019, he said.

Devakumar explained that “lack of foreign exchange means companies need to invest in local agriculture to help meet demand for food from Nigeria’s population of more than 180 million”.

“All raw sugar has to be imported today, same thing for flour milling,” he added.

Dangote has taken a clear lead in investment in agriculture as the federal government seeks to diversify away from oil, which accounts for 90 percent of the nation’s export earnings.

Dangote plans to cultivate 350,000 hectares of land for sugar cane and add 200,000 hectares for rice, according to Devakumar.

The company has ordered five plants for sugar milling and 10 for rice from Switzerland to be located in the north of the country, he further disclosed.

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