Dangote distributes rice seedlings to Jigawa farmers

The President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote,
has inaugurated itsthe 8,000-hectare Rice Out-growers’
Scheme in Hadejia, Jigawa State, with the distribution
of rice seedlings to farmers.
According to a statement by the group, the scheme,
which is part of its partnership with government at all
levels to reduce Nigeria’s food imports, has the
potential to provide 10,000 direct and indirect jobs.
It said the rice project being executed by the Dangote
Rice Limited would be replicated in six other states of
the federation.
It said the project was the fallout of a Memorandum
of Understanding signed between Dangote and the
Federal Government, on the one hand, and the Jigawa
State Government on the other.
Dangote lamented that the Nigerian agricultural
commodities and food imports’ bill had averaged over
N1tn in the past two years, with items such as sugar,
wheat, rice and fish accounting for 93 per cent of the
amount.
He described the situation as unacceptable, adding
that this informed his decision to go into agriculture
According to him, under the Dangote Rice Out-growers
Scheme, farmers will be given training and other
necessary inputs with guaranteed buy-back at agreed
prices.
The Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken
Lokpobiri, was quoted as saying that the Federal
Government was ready to support the scheme and
make it a success.
The Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Badaru Abubakar,
thanked Dangote Rice Limited for choosing the state
as a pilot for the project and pledged the readiness of
his administration to provide the needed support.
The governor said he had no doubt that the project
would succeed in turning around the economy of the
state, noting that the company’s exploits in other
sectors such as cement, sugar, and lately, oil and gas,
was an indication that Jigawa was lucky to host the
Dangote rice scheme.