Dangote Flags Off 8000 Hectares Rice Scheme

The president of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, at the weekend, flagged off his multibillion naira 8000 hectares of Rice Outgrowers Scheme in Hadejia, Jigawa State as part of his partnership with governments at all levels to reduce food imports.

The launch of the scheme, marked with the distribution of rice seedlings to the benefitting farmers, is with potential to provide direct jobs for 5000 farmers and another 5000 indirect jobs for various scheme dependants.

The rice project being executed by Dangote Rice Limited and expected to be replicated in six other states of the federation, is a fallout of a memorandum of understanding signed between Dangote and the federal government on one hand and the Jigawa State government on another.

Speaking shortly before he made the distribution, Alhaji Dangote explained that Nigeria depended on agriculture for economic development before the discovery of oil, noting that oil was meant to complement agriculture, but sadly, the nation abandoned agriculture and concentrated on oil.

“Before the discovery of oil, our economy was built around potentials from our palm oil, groundnut, cotton and rubber plantations. Now, the price of oil has plummeted from a peak of $116 per barrel in June 2014 to as low as $29 per barrel in January 2016. This means that there is a huge loss of revenue to the governmnet,” he lamented.

Justifying his decision to go into agriculture, Dangote said Nigerian agricultural commodities and food import bills had averaged over N1 trillion between 2013 and 2014, with foods like sugar, wheat, rice, fish accounting for 93 per cent of the total cost of imports, a situation he described as unacceptable for anyone who loves the country.

Excited at the initiative, the Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heneiken Lokpobiri, commended Alhaji Dangote for his intervention on food security for the citizenry, job creation, and reduction of dependency on food importation.

The Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Badaru Muhammed Abubakar, thanked the Dangote Rice Limited for choosing Jigawa as the pilot state for the project. He pledged the readiness of his administration to provide all necessary support to the project.

The governor said he had no doubt that Dangote rice would turn the economy of the state around, adding that the company’s exploits in other sectors is a great testimony.

Advertise here