Africa's richest man launches Rice growing scheme across Nigeria

Dangote Rice, a subsidiary of Dangote Group, is set to launch in Sokoto.

The company will launch its multi-million Naira 25,000 hectares of rice out-grower scheme with the prospect of hundreds of thousands of employment opportunities for the rural communities and inhabitants of Sokoto, according to a statement from the Dangote group which was made available to

President of the Group, AlhajiAliko Dangote, disclosed at the weekend that the company will on Wednesday, flag off with a pilot project of 500 hectares by Gonroyo dam, in Goronyo community.

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Gonroyo dam is the second largest in the country after Kainji.The flag-off ceremony which will be performed by the Governor of Sokoto state, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, will witness seedlings being distributed to the primary local farmers who will in turn plant the seed.

Thereafter, Dangote Rice company will purchase the harvested rice from the farmers for milling and final processing.Sokoto state comes second after Jigawa on the roll call of 14 States where Dangote Rice plans to operate its out-grower scheme; aimed at empowering local farmers and creating job opportunities for community dwellers, while reducing migration to the cities.Dangote Rice' projects in the 14 states, when operational, will generate a significant number of jobs and increase take-home income for small-holder farmers, while helping to diversify Nigeria’s economy and reduce the nation’s food import bill, the company claims.

Dangote Rice says it plans to produce 225,000 MT (Metric Tonnes) of parboiled, milled white rice which will allow it to satisfy 4 percent 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 percent of the domestic market demand for rice over the next 5 years", Dangote Rice said.