Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc is moving ahead with plans to establish a major sugar project in Ghana, a development expected to generate thousands of jobs and boost local farming, Bello Alkali Saddiq, General Manager, Sales and Marketing of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc has disclosed.
Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the on-going Intra-African Trade Fair in Algiers, Algeria, he said the refinery would not only reduce Ghana’s reliance on imported sugar but also empower local communities through employment and out grower schemes.
The company in May this year announced the commencement of the project in the Bono East Region to reduce sugar import costs and promote local industrial growth.
The facility will process 12,000 tons of sugarcane daily, supported by a 25,000-hectare plantation, and produce by-products such as molasses and ethanol.
The project, is expected to Ghana’s $162 million annual sugar import and also support the government’s industrialisation drive.
“Farming, anything agribusiness, is actually labour intensive. With the one that we have undertaken in Nigeria, we had as high as 10,000 employment opportunities, direct and indirect. It’s not going to be different.”
Mr Saddiq explained that the new project was currently at the seedling stage, with land preparation and structural requirements under way.
He said sugarcane farming takes between two and three years before harvesting and processing can begin.
“We are at the point of seedling and also putting every other structural requirement. After that, then we can go ahead to the next phase of the project,” he said, without giving a specific timeframe for the refinery’s start of production.
The Ghana venture follows Dangote’s success in reviving a near-defunct state-owned sugar operation in Nigeria.
He said that experience had given the group confidence in replicating the model.
“We engaged into that project without fear because we had the same experience in Nigeria. We revived it and today we are producing from that. For us it’s a copy-paste from experience,” he said.
He said “The project is expected to generate significant opportunities for outgrower farmers, who will cultivate sugarcane for the refinery.”
He pointed to Nigeria’s record of 6,500 outgrowers involved in a similar scheme.
“Beyond direct jobs, the community people will have the benefit of having that project because they may end up being growers. We also give them the opportunity to grow the sugarcane, we buy it off them and we use it to process our sugar,” he said.
The General Manager said the government had granted all necessary permits for the project, underscoring official support.
“For us to get into Ghana or to get into any country, we will not be able to do that without getting a nod from the government. So when we get the nod from the government, then we embark on the project,” he said.
While production will primarily serve Ghana, he said wider West African markets could eventually be targeted, depending on volumes.
“Of course, the immediate community will be a priority. And then depending on how the volume grows, you can expand to other areas,” he noted.
Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc is part of the Dangote Group, owned by Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, and is one of the continent’s leading producers of refined sugar.
FROM DAVID ADADEVOH, ALGIERS
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