Dangote set to invest N165b in rice production in 5 states

Dangote has acquired farmland in Edo, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, and Niger states, totaling 150,000 hectares for commercial production of paddy rice. Part of the agreement requires Dangote Group to establish two modern rice mills, each with a capacity to mill 120,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice, bringing the total capacity to 240,000 metric tonnes.Kebbi State […]

Dangote has acquired farmland in Edo, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, and Niger states, totaling 150,000 hectares for commercial production of paddy rice. Part of the agreement requires Dangote Group to establish two modern rice mills, each with a capacity to mill 120,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice, bringing the total capacity to 240,000 metric tonnes.
Kebbi State chairman of wheat farmers association and former Programme Manager, Kebbi Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (KARDA), Alhaji Saidu Abdullahi Argungu, said farmers will expect to see the implementation of the MoU and not just mere propaganda, adding: “Let it be a reality, not only on paper because there are a lot of expectations from the farmers whose lands were collected for the project.”
Argungu said farmers want support not farm inputs on loan, adding: “We don’t need credit, we want support for quality seed, fertiliser and chemicals at the right time and at a subsidised rate. We want ready market for our rice paddy. We want cottage mills. With these, the sky is the limit for Kebbi rice farmers.”
He said there is more than N2 billion worth of rice paddy available in Kebbi for sale at any given time. “Any investor or any rice miller who has cash available should come to Kebbi and purchase. We are selling a bag for as low as N6,000 and we have an arrangement to deliver to anywhere within Nigeria upon payment.”
Sources say many youths who left for Lagos and Abuja to engage in petty trading and petty jobs like nail cutting and shoe repairs have returned home in large numbers to farm.
Zubairu Umar, a returnee dry season farmer in Lolo, Bagudo Local Government Area said he used to realise just about N20,000 per year as a nail cutter while in Lagos, but he is now able to make over N350,000 income from his rice farm.
“This also goes to many of my friends who returned from Abuja and Lagos and we expect the number and our yield to increase if Dangote established his mills around here,” Umar said.
He, however, appealed to government for timely distribution of fertiliser and other farm inputs, especially for dry-season rice farmers in the state, as the surest way of enhancing agricultural production.
The District Head of Lolo in Bagudo local government, one of the areas enjoying high yield of rice in the state, Alhaji Mohammed Sala Ilo, said the number of rice farmers is likely to increase from 2,000 to over 5,000 due to recent development that seems to be encouraging most farmers who abandoned rice farming to return to the business.
“Dangote’s recent signing of MoU in which our state forms part of the states that will benefit from the funds has really encouraged our farmers and they are very happy. Many of them have declared their interest to return to farm, while those already in the trade said they will expand their farmlands,” he said.
He said Dangote’s intervention will eliminate cost of transporting their produce to Lagos to sell as well as reduce the high rate of importation of foreign rice.
He said the development has seen an increase of purchase of rice from farmers from 2,000 to 3,000 bags through the state chapter of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN).
The Grand Patron of Rice Farmer Association and the District Head of Ngaski, Alhaji Aliyu Ibrahim Tanko, said when the mills start working, most of the rice farmers whose rice farms were taken over by the Chinese firm in Cifamini and those farmers who were displaced at Kainji Lake will return to the state.
Another rice farmer in Jega, Alhaji Mustapha Yahaya Jega, said implementation of the MoU will complement efforts of the Kebbi State Sure-P programme of purchasing the produce from farmers.
“It is a welcome development if at all it will be implemented and not end up being one of the many white elephant projects of government,” he said.
The Kebbi State Director of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Kelvin Tekpat, said government will continue to ensure the distribution of improved seed from the Green Agriculture, a West African Agric firm based in Birnin Kebbi and Warra in the state.