After attaining surplus sugar refining capacity, Nigeria is pushing for self-sufficiency in the cultivation of the main raw material, sugarcane.
The National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) which made this point in Yola, Adamawa State, said it is facilitating efforts to raise sugar production beyond the consumption level of the country, as the country which currently consumes 1.7 million metric tonnes of sugar, aims now to raise its production to 1.8 million metric tonnes
Executive Secretary of the Council, Mr Zacch Adedeji, who led a team of the management staff of the Council on a working visit to the Numan Operations of Dangote Sugar Refinery, said Nigeria has in the last 10 years raised its refinery capacity to beyond refining infrastructure need, but that the country still has work to do to raise sugarcane production to feed the refineries.
This, he said, would be done in the course of a fresh sugar production masterplan that President Muhammadu Buhari approved recently.
He led an extensive tour on Tuesday to the Numan refining facility currently being expanded, as well as a tour of the 8035-acre Dangote Sugar Refinery cane plantation within the Numan sugar complex.
Fielding questions later from newsmen, the NSDC Executive Secretary said, “Our total sugar consumption today is 1.7 million metric tonnes. By the end of the next 10 years, we want to be in a position to produce 1.8 million metric tonnes, meaning that we want to produce more than we consume in the country.
“Under Nigerian Sugar Masterplan, we have the Backward Integration programme that we are implementing in which we have had huge achievements in the last 10 years (first phase), most importantly on the refining side. Today, we only import raw sugar which we refine locally.
”He said that the country still has challenges that are expected to be tackled in Phase 2 of the Sugar Development Masterplan, which is producing enough quantities of sugarcane for existing sugar refineries around the country.
According to him, the NSDC is seeking investors who would join the cane-growing end of the process to fill the raw material sourcing gap.
He added that apart from the big-time sugar producers, including the Dangote Group, the BUA Sugar Company in Lafiagi, the Sunti Golden Sugar Estate in Niger State, and the Shonga Sugar Production Company in Kwara State, the NSDC is looking to outgrowers who may be mostly individual farmers, to grow sugarcane and supply to the various refineries.
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