The Dangote Group has said that its investment in rice farming will create thousands of the Job.
The Group is to spend N165 billion for rice cultivation in some five states across the federation, according to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the federal ministry of Agriculture last week.
President of the Group, Aliko Dangote, while receiving in his office in Lagos a trade team, explained that the company envisaged massive job creation with the new investment in rice, noting that the strategic investment was part of the plan to boost agriculture, food production and job creation.
According to him, “our investment in integrated rice production will require thousands of workers. Rice production comes in stages such as planting, growing, weeding, harvesting, milling, bagging and transport. Thousands of jobs are expected to be created in all the states where the Group will establish rice farms.”
He explained that the transformation agenda of the Federal Government was on course and giving the leeway for serious minded businesses like his to key into the agenda and contribute to the nation’s economic development.
As part of the project, Dangote will also establish two state-of-the-art large-scale rice mills each with a capacity to mill 120,000 metric tonnes of rice paddy, bringing total capacity to 240,000 metric tonnes, with plans to double capacity within two years. With this installed capacity, the project will become the largest single investment ever made in rice production in Africa.
The rice plant is estimated to produce 960,000 metric tonnes of mill rice, representing 46 per cent of rice imported into Nigeria.
Dangote has acquired farmland in Edo, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, and Niger states totalling 150,000 hectares to be used for the commercial production of rice paddy.
President Goodluck Jonathan, speaking on the significance of the investment, had said “Nigeria recognises that agriculture holds the key for inclusive growth that will help lift millions of our people out of poverty into wealth. This is a mark of strong confidence in the success of our agricultural policies and the strength of our economy.”
The investment, according to the President, has the capacity of creating massive employment opportunities, therefore reducing unemployment in the nation.
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