In Sokoto, Dangote to launch 25,000ha rice project

Dangote Rice, a subsidiary of Dangote Group is set to take-off on Wednesday 25,000 hectares of rice outgrower programme in Sokoto, Nigeria.

The Sokoto state governor Aminu Tambuwal is expected to flag off the project, and seedlings will be distributed to local farmers who will in turn plant and sell rice to Dangote for milling and final processing.

A pilot is set to begin with 500 hectares by Gonroyo dam, in Goronyo community. Gonroyo dam is the second largest in the country, after Kainji.

Sokoto is one of 14 states where Dangote Rice plans to operate outgrower scheme to create job opportunities for community dwellers and reduce migration to the cities and empower local farmers.

Rice demand in Nigeria reached 6.3 million metric tonnes in 2015—with only 2.3 million metric tonnes satisfied by local production, according to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Dangote Group hopes to produce 225,000 metric tonnes of parboiled, milled white rice. 

“This will allow us to satisfy 4% of the total market demand within 1 year,” said Dangote Group in a statement.

“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.”