Dangote, others to establish agribusiness group
The Dangote Group with other partners have finalised plans to form a body known as “Nigerian Agribusiness Group” to address challenges in the agricultural sector from a holistic perspective.
This disclosure was made by the representative of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Sani Dangote, in his remarks at the just concluded 1st Daily Trust Agric Conference and Exhibition in Abuja.
According to him, they came up with the initiative to bring together all the key stakeholders in the agriculture value chain in order to become stronger and effective in assisting members in various ways.
He said membership of the Group was open to all farmers associations, commodity associations and other agriculture-based groups in the country.
“All the necessary things have been done and the Group will soon come on board. If the Group comes up, all we are discussing here will be taken care of. How to tackle the challenges facing the agriculture sector, among other issues will be considered by the Group,” he said.
Alhaji Dangote stated that a lot of investment was needed in agriculture to create jobs and productivity in the face of the increasing population and unemployment in the country.
He said the Dangote Group has made a lot of investment in the sector across the country and are supporting outgrowers to also benefit from the investment.
“We bring in out-growers to move the farmers out of poverty. Local farmers don’t have a dime to buy fertilizer. They rely on the rich guy in the village who pays him less than one-third of the value of their produce,” he noted.
“We give the farmers inputs. We have registered 5,000 farmers in Kano. We give 100,000 oil palm seedlings to farmers in Cross River every year,” he added.
He said Dangote Group has investments hovering around 100,000 hectares of rice farms in various locations in the country.