African Development Bank (AfDB) President, Mr Akinwumi Adesina, at the weekend predicted that Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, will become the largest exporter of rice in the world within the next four years.

Adesina indicated this at the Mo Ibrahim Forum in Morocco, noting that by 2021, the pilot phase of the Dangote Outgrowers Scheme launched in Sokoto State would have created jobs for 16,000 rice farmers in the state.

He therefore advised that Africa should focus on agriculture to drive growth and employment on the continent, recalling  that during his tenure as Nigeria’s Minister for Agriculture, Dangote decided to invest in local production of rice due to government’s import substitution policies.

Adesina noted that Dangote initially planned a 300 million-dollar investment in production and processing of rice in Nigeria but later changed it to one billion dollars, three months after.

“If they continue that policy, he would probably be the single largest producer of rice in the world, in about four years.

“The reason why I was so excited about that is that agriculture is cool, agriculture is a business and agriculture pays,” Adesina said.

Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Chairman, Dangote Ltd, said he ventured into rice cultivation because of government’s interest to revive agriculture as the mainstay of the economy and reduce importation of food that could be produced locally.

He lamented that Nigeria consumes 6.5 million Metric tonnes of rice which costs the nation over two billion dollars annually and commended government’s policy that encourages private sector’s active participation in agriculture.

“In the next three years, we want to produce one million tonnes of quality rice, make it available and affordable to the people.

“We hope to do 150, 000 hectares and when we are done, Nigeria will not have anything to do with importation of rice,” Dangote said.

According to him, Dangote Rice Outgrowers Scheme is committed to creating employment, increasing incomes of smallholders farmers and ensuring food security in the country.

He said that to achieve the goal, the scheme would provide high quality seeds, fertilizers, agro-chemicals and technical assistance on best agricultural practice to farmers.

“This scheme will help to diversify the economy, alleviate poverty and reduce the nation’s import bill.

The scheme has been designed as a one stop solution for the rice value chain,” Dangote stated.