Dangote to flag off 25, 000 hectares Outgrower scheme in Sokoto Wednesday
All is set for the official flag off pilot project of 500 ha by Gonroyo dam, in Goronyo community, Sokoto State tomorrow by Dangote Rice, a subsidiary of Dangote Group. Gonroyo dam is the second largest in the country, after Kainji.
The scheme is part of multi billion naira 25, 000 hectares of rice Outgrower scheme. The programme is expected to pump hundreds of thousands of employment opportunities for the rural communities and agricultural experts.
According to the President of the Group, Aliko Dangote, the flag off ceremony which will be performed by the governor of the state, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwa will witness seedlings being distributed to the primary local farmers who will in turn plant the seed after which Dangote Rice Company will purchase from them for milling and final processing.
Statistics show that Sokoto state is the second after Jigawa out of the 14 states spread across the northern states where Dangote Rice plans to operate outgrower scheme to empower local farmers and create job opportunities for community dwellers and reduce migration to the cities.
Otherwise, Dangote Rice Projects in the 14 states, when, operational, will generate a significant number of jobs and increase take-home income for smallholder farmers, all while diversifying Nigeria’s economy and reducing the nation’s food import bill.
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) estimates that rice demand in Nigeria reached 6.3 million MT in 2015, with only 2.3 million MT of that demand satisfied by local production.
The local production shortfall leaves a gap of 4.0 million MT that is currently being filled through formal importation of rice or illegal imports over land borders.
However, before the end of this year, Dangote Rice plans to produce 225,000 MT of parboiled, milled white rice. This will allow us to satisfy 4% of the total market demand within 1 year. Our model can then be successfully scaled to produce 1,000,000 MT of milled rice in order to satisfy 16% of the domestic market demand for rice over the next 5 years.
By the plan of the company, Dangote Rice is working on a mandate to produce locally high-quality milled, parboiled rice for the Nigeria market. This goal will be achieved by sourcing the raw material (paddy) required from the Dangote Rice Outgrower Scheme.
The besides, Dangote Rice will offtake rice paddy and transport the paddy to be processed. One centralized mill will mill the stored paddy rice from all three sites.
Outlook of the group is very clear; to produce one million MT of rice from 150,000 Ha in the next 5 years over. They intend to accomplish this by scaling the business model described above to more sites and rice growing communities.
