Dangote Group acquires agbede-warrake farms

As part of its investment in the agricultural sector in Edo State, the Dangote Group has acquired the Agbede-Warrake farms located between Etsako West and Owan East local government areas.

The 20-year contractual agreement for the 7,657.5 hectares between Edo State and Delt-R Farms Limited was terminated by the state government over alleged abandonment and plan to trade-off the farmlands for the sum of $6 million (N960m) by the management of the firm.

The state governor, Adams Oshiomhole, who had revoked the contractual agreement at the state executive council meeting, said the action was in the public interest and in accordance with the law.

He said on revocation, the farmlands should be re-allocated to potential investors for resuscitation or de-acquired and transfer to Agbede and Warrake communities, respectively, to boost agricultural production and improve the rural economy through employment generation and wealth creation.

The state commissioner for agriculture and natural resources, Abdul Oroh, who disclosed the acquisition of the farmlands in an exclusive interview with BusinessDay in Benin City, said the 7,657.5 hectares had increased the total farmlands so far acquired by Dangote Group to about 60,000 hectares.

Oroh said the company had last year acquired a total of 50,000 hectares for commercial agriculture and that the state was among the states in the federation that will also benefit from the establishment of N1 billion integrated rice project.

When fully utilised, the farms is capable of creating more than 20,000 direct and indirect jobs, over production of 300,000 metric tons of rice and generate between N1 billion to N2 billion annually, he said.

The commissioner, who said the state ranked first and ninth largest rice producers in the South-South geo-political zone and in the entire country, respectively, opined that the additional 300,000 metric tons by Dangote Group would make it among the major five rice producing states in Nigeria.

He however listed plans of the state government to boost rice production to include – to allocate 100,000 hectares for rice cultivation and contribute about 400,000 to 500,000 metric tons to paddy rice to the national demand.

Other strategies are the establishment of seed companies for the production of seeds of high yielding and disease resistant varieties, encourage the establishment of large-scale farmers along with small-holders (out-growers) nucleus rice farmers, among others.