(Ecofin Agency) - Dangote Rice, a subsidiary of Dangote Group, is to launch 25,000 hectares of rice outgrower scheme in Sokoto State, with the aim of creating hundreds of employment opportunities for the rural communities.

The President of the Group, Aliko Dangote (photo), who disclosed this during the weekend said the company will on Wednesday, kick-start the scheme with a pilot project of 500ha by Goronyo dam; the second largest dam in the country, after Kainji.

Dangote added that the pilot project will involve the distribution of seedlings to local farmers who will plant the seeds, after which Dangote Rice would purchase the harvest from them for milling and final processing.

“By 2017 ending, Dangote Rice plans to produce 225,000MT of parboiled, milled white rice. This will allow us to satisfy 4% of the total market demand within 1 year. Our model can then be successfully scaled to produce 1,000,000MT of milled rice in order to satisfy 16% of the domestic market demand for rice over the next five years,” he said.

Data from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) has shown that rice demand in Nigeria reached 6.3 million tons in 2015, and only 2.3 million ton of that demand was satisfied through local production.

Anita Fatunji