Dangote widens investment coast, plans to pump $1bn in rice farming
Leading African indigenous conglomerate, Dangote Group has disclosed plans to invest $1bn in rice cultivation in five states to boost food self-sufficiency in the country.
Giving the hint during the closing ceremony of the 2017 Gateway Trade Fair, in Abeokuta, the Ogun State, a director of the Dangote Group, Mr. Tunde Mabogunje, revealed that “We have been contributing our quota to the growth and development of the Nigerian economy. Towards aiding agriculture, we are building a fertilizer plant in the Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lagos State”.
“When completed, farmers will have regular access to fertilizer for their farming activities. The delays and disruptions experienced in waiting for imported fertilizer will cease.
“We are investing about $1bn in rice cultivation. We have an out-growers scheme where thousands of farmers are empowered with improved seeds and items needed to cultivate rice.”
The director further added that Dangote Group was at the forefront of job creation and was the largest employer of labour outside the Federal Government, and had been contributing its quota to the growth and development of the Nigerian economy for more than three decades.
The leader of the company at the fair said that the partnership with the Ogun Council of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, organisers of the fair, was a beneficial as Ogun State was the host of the 12 million metric tonnes per annum Dangote Cement Plant, Ibese, the second largest cement plant in Nigeria.
Highlight of the event was distribution of several tools and implements to block moulders in Ogun State in appreciation of their patronage to Dangote Cement.
The tools include wheel barrows, shovels, umbrellas and hand gloves were donated to the block moulders, who assembled from different areas of the state.
