Dangote Industries Limited on Friday announced a $1bn (N165bn) investment for commercial rice farming and modern integrated rice mills to be run by the firm in Nigeria.

The President and Chairman, Dangote Group, Mr. Aliko Dangote, announced his firm’s investment plan at the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Abuja.

Dangote, who led a delegation from his firm to the ministry, later proceeded to the Presidential Villa for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Government.

He told ministry officials and journalists that the decision to invest in rice production was aimed at developing Nigeria’s economy through agriculture.

He said the investment would further boosts the Federal Government’s drive to attain food sufficiency in Nigeria, adding that in the next four years Nigeria would become an exporter of rice.

Dangote said once his rice industry starts production, the price of locally produced rice “will be definitely cheaper than the imported ones and this will create room for a lot of investments in the sector.”

He added, “With rice as a major staple, we have placed total sufficiency in rice production as a major priority for our country and key value chain for our economy.

“Today’s signing ceremony marks a revolutionary tipping point by the Dangote Group to make Nigeria a net exporter of rice within the next few years as well as boosting inclusive wealth creation and employment generation.”

Dangote said his firm had acquired farmlands in Edo, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara and Niger states totalling 150,000 hectares to be used for the commercial production of rice paddy.

He noted that his industry would establish two state of the art large scale rice mills each with a capacity to mill 120,000 metric tons of rice per day, bringing total capacity to 240.000MT, with plans to double the figure in two years.

“With this installed capacity, the project will become the largest integrated rice mill in Africa,” Dangote said.

In his remarks, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, stated that the Dangote farms and mills were expected to significantly boost small-holder rice production in the regions through a nucleus and out-grower farming model.

This, he said, would directly transform livelihoods in rural Nigeria as the sites selected were rice-growing communities that will be supported by Dangote’s provision of agro-inputs, training and marketing linkages to improve community-farming.

He said employment opportunities for at least 8,000 Nigerians would be created by the massive investment.

Akinwumi said, “This investment by Dangote Industries is transformational for Nigeria and the rest of Africa. Nigeria has no business importing rice. Our goal is to become self-sufficient in rice and become a global powerhouse in food and agriculture markets.

“Through this billion dollar commitment, Aliko Dangote, Africa’s leading businessman, has clearly attested to the policies and approach that the Federal Government has undertaken to transform the nation’s agricultural sector.”

The minister assured the delegation that the Federal Government would stop the smuggling of foreign rice into Nigeria from neighbouring countries.

According to him, his ministry would ensure that no individual sabotaged the drive to make Nigeria an exporter of rice.

“We will end smuggling because we cannot mortgage our future and I want to assure you that government is looking at this issue critically,” Adesina said.

Source: His 1st son

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