Dupe Olaoye-Osinkolu/
Afrca’s leading indigenous conglomerate, Dangote Group, is poised to invest heavily in rice cultivation in its bid to make Nigeria self-sufficient in food production.
The company is working on a multi-million naira 25,000 hectares of rice out-grower scheme in Sokoto, with a prospect of hundreds of employment opportunities for the rural communities.
Dangote Rice, one of the company’s local subsidiaries, plans to produce 225,000MT of parboiled, milled white rice by the end of 2017, which will satisfy four percent of the Nigerian market demand within one year.
The company, on Wednesday, took a step towards the implementation of this objective with the inauguration of a pilot project, consisting of 500 hectares by Goronyo Dam (second largest dam in Nigeria after Kainji) in Goronyo town, Sokoto State.
The ceremony was personally performed by the president of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, who is also Africa’s richest man.
Speaking at the occasion, Dangote said Nigerians consume over 6.5 million tonnes of rice annually, less than half of which is produced locally.
He expressed concern that the deficit arising from the importation of rice cost Nigeria over 2 billion dollars per annum.
Dangote said: “As agriculture remains an important sector in our economy, we plan to produce 1million tonnes of high-quality parboiled rice within the next three years.
“This is by cultivating about 160,000 hectares of irrigable rice farmland in some selected states, thus making the commodity affordable to ordinary Nigerians.
“Moreover, the out-growers scheme is committed to creating a significant number of jobs, increasing the incomes of small holder farmers and ensuring food security in the country.
“This is by providing high-quality seeds, fertiliser and agrochemicals, as well as technical assistance on best agricultural practice to farmers.”
The occasion was witnessed by Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State and the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar.
The company believes the model is has created “can be successfully scaled to produce 1,000,000MT of milled rice in order to meet 16 percent of the domestic market demand for rice over the next five years,”
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