By Citizenship Weekend
In an effort to leverage the Food Security Emergency declared by President Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s administration last year, Niger Foods in partnership with the Nigeria Sugar Development Council has made a bold step to revive the USD2.5 Billion Nigeria Sugar Industry in the country.
This was made known by the Niger State Governor’s Special Adviser on Digital Media and Strategy, Abdullberqy Usman Ebbo on his social media handle X.
He said that the initiative is another bold step to also promote food Security and rural Industrialisation of Nigeria which will boost agricultural production and better economy for all.
Abdulbaqy Usman Ebbo noted that during a side event of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Niger Food signed a deal with Uttam Sucrotech (a consortium composed of leading Brazil and India Sugar Value Chain experts) to develop 250,000 hectares of Sugarcane fields and 6 Sugar/Ethanol plants in Niger State over the next 3 years.
According to him, the Niger Farms project which will harness about 90,000 Hectares on the shoulder of the recently flagged off Sokoto – Lagos Super Highway will produce 2.5million metric tons of Sugar, 250 million litres of Ethanol, and generate 300 Megawatts of Electricity.
He added that it will also create 100,000 direct Jobs, and 250,000 Indirect Jobs aside from the projected 750,000 Outgrower Participants.
Speaking at the event, the Minister for Foreign Affairs praised the Niger State Government for its private sector approach to the development of Agriculture through the creation of Niger Foods and also for the strategic choice of the 2 leading Sugar producers in the world with a specialty for large scale cultivation (Brazil) and structured small scale out-grower program (India).
Abdulbaqy Ebbo cited the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security as expressing the support of the Ministry to Niger State in the quest for Large scale mechanized and integrated Agriculture.
The Minister praised the strategic choice of coupling research and innovation to the development of the farms, Ebbo said.
He said the development of the Sugar value chain will give birth to a vibrant livestock industry in Niger State, and that the mixed cropping of sugar with Soybean will ensure massive foreign earnings.
In his speech, the Governor Mohammed Umar Bago of Niger state thanked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the unprecedented initiative for the socio economic development of Nigeria.
Ebbo hinted that governor Bago said the component that Super Highways that pass through the Niger State will open 90,000 hectares of arable land which will be part of the field to be used in the Sugar project.
It could be recalled that Nigeria, Brazil, and India were in the 1960s developing the sugarcane culture, according to the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Sugar Council, Mr. Kamar Bakrin, the Nigeria Sugar Industry has since stagnated with the area cultivated being less than 20,000 Hectres producing about 540,000 metric tons (about 3% of Nigeria current Sugar demand) compared to Brazil’s and India’s production of 41million metric tons and 36 million metric tons respectively.
