Jigawa communities pledge support for Dangote’s multi-million dollar rice project

JIGAWA State government as well as host communities have thrown their weight behind the Dangote Rice project expected to be the largest in Africa and with prospects for creation of thousands of job opportunities.
The government and members of the communities pledge their support and cooperation to the successful take-off of the project and its safety during a series of town hall sensitisation meeting held with them by the management of Dangote Rice Farming Limited and officials of the Jigawa State government.
In an ambitious move to dominate the world market in rice farming, President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, said that there was no going back in his plan to invest heavily in rice farming in five states of the federation
The communities expressed satisfaction and delight at the choice of their area for the gargantuan project just as preparations commenced in the state which is one of the states, where the company, for a start, is cultivating 600 hectares of land for commercial rice farming by November for a start.
Jigawa State government was particularly excited at the Out-Grower part of the plan that would see Dangote Rice helping farmers with implements to cultivate and grow rice which would also be bought from them by Dangote rice, a project, the state government said would complement its agenda of job creation and poverty reduction at the grassroots in the state.
Already, a multi million dollar worth state of the art equipment for the commencement of the rice project is expected in a location in Kaffin Hausa Local Government Area of Jigawa State for the project with potential of thousands of direct and indirect job opportunities.
According to the farming plan released during a sensitisation town hall meetings with some host communities in the local government, the Dangote Rice Farming Limited, the rice project at Kaffin Hausa has a five year plan to achieve between 175,000 and 200, 000, hectares of rice grown twice a year.
The rice project has a plan to follow a due process for the development of the 20,000 hectares of land for rice farming in order to produce and sell high quality parboiled rice in the Nigerian market
Management of the Company, led by Alhaji Mohammed Bello, said the Dangote Rice project has the objectives of becoming the leaders in rice farming in the world and also boost the Nigerian economy, encourage self sustainability and import substitution in rice.
He said the company was set to reduce importation of rice into Nigeria by investing to become the largest farming operations in the world by 2020 with excess of 150,000 hectares of land spread around three to five states.
According to him, Dangote Rice Company will produce and sell one million tonnes of high quality parboiled rice within the next five years and at the same time, supporting and developing Nigerian rice farmers through the out-grower plan that will generate employment.
The management of the company expressed appreciation to the government of the state for its willingness to come to the aid of the company to ensure a smooth take off of the project.
While meeting with the communities some of those whose settlements fall within the government reserved area earmarked for the project, Bello sought the maximum cooperation of the people to realise the project, describing the decision by Alhaji Dangote to delve into the project as laudable.
He promised that the people would experience a new dawn in all areas of their lives as a people as the company would be ready to give them a new lease of life better than they are currently experiencing.
The sensitisation meeting has taken the company and state government officials to some 15 communities including Ciyayi, Gafaya, Wiwi and Auno villages in Kaffin Hausa Local Government area of the North-West state.
Some community leaders described the rice project as ‘a transformation project’ that they could not but support.
They urged Dangote Rice company to put machinery in motion and commence cultivation as the project would provide thousands of jobs for their youths “who usually abandon the communities for big cities like Lagos, Port-Harcourt and Kano in search of better living”.
They assured that the project would be safe and that Alhaji Dangote could go and sleep because they would do all within their power to protect and make it flourish.
In his remark, Alhaji Hamisu Sabo, the Director of Jigawa Invest, an investment agency of the state government, said the state government has been encouraging and supporting Dangote Rice project because it is a project that will make a difference in the lives of the people of the state.
He stated that the decision to establish the rice project in Jigawa was a boost to the development agenda of the new government in the state, pointing out that job creation and poverty reduction are cardinal objectives of the state government agenda.