Dangote Rice launches youth graduates rice farming project in Kogi

Dangote

A multi-million naira youth farming initiative that will engage teeming unemployed Nigerian graduates in rice farming has been launched by Dangote Rice Limited (www.Dangote.com) in Kogi Stateas the company prepares to hit the Nigerian market with one million metric tons of Dangote Rice in 2018.

The Dangote Youth Rice Farm project, mainly an out-grower scheme for youths only, was flagged off at the Lower Niger River Basin Authority, Kampe, Ejiba, Yagba West Local Government Area of the state and the youths have already embarked on rice cultivation over 100 hectares of land.

The project, which was preceded by a special training for the youth farmers on the dynamics of rice farming, will see the youths cultivating the rice which will then be bought over by the company for processing.

Under the scheme, the Dangote Rice Company provides the seedlings, anti-pest chemicals and fertilizers while the Basin Authority provided the land for the young farmers.

The management of Dangote Rice led by the Group Executive Director, Devakumar Edwin, flagged off the project and took delivery of some rice paddy bags produced from the pilot project.

Edwin explained that the project is a new dimension to the efforts by the pan-African conglomerate, the Dangote Group, at ensuring food security and creating job opportunities in Nigeria especially for the youths, saying, “This initiative is in line with the vision and commitment of Dangote Industries Limited to create a new generation of agripreneurs that will revolutionize the Nigerian agricultural sector.

“We believe skill, knowledge, enabling environment, collaboration and linkages along the value chain are driving forces for economic empowerment and social development in line with government policies. This project will address the skills gap in local rice production among unemployed youths by providing technical, organisational and financial requirements.”

He said it would also enhance domestic rice production to cover the large gap between demand and domestic production, increase Nigeria’s rice self-sufficiency and substitute imported rice by quality Nigerian rice brands.

He added that most modern rice mills in Nigeria presently operate at not more than 20% capacity utilization due mainly to lack of good quality paddy and that Dangote Rice aimed to change this situation by developing and adapting out-grower schemes and it plans to set up a 150,000 metric tons integrated rice mill and sell one million metric tons of parboiled rice by 2018.