Dangote Sugar refinery plc has said that it is significantly scaling up its investment in the sugar sub-sector in line with the requirement of the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan.

President, the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, announced this while speaking at the flag off ceremony of the 2022/2023 Crushing Season and Outgrower Scheme Awards in Numan, Adamawa State.

In a statement, Dangote said the company was making massive investments in Adamawa State through the expansion of DSR Numan sugar refining capacity from 3,000 tonnes of cane per day to 6,000 tcd, 9,800 tcd and to 15,000 tcd.

He noted that increasing the sugar refining capacity would require a corresponding increase in sugarcane production capacity. The company, he added, had concluded plans to increase its sugar plantation from the current land area under cane production of about 8,700 hectares in 2022 to about 24,200 hectares within the next seven years. He also assured that the company would double its scholarship and empowerment schemes in its host communities

In the statement, he said, “We will continue to introduce more initiatives to support our host communities. Through these initiatives and our numerous Corporate Social Responsibility activities, DSR Numan will be able to touch the lives of the people, bringing social, economic, and infrastructural development to our host communities.”

“We are thus committing over $700m to our investment in the Backward Integration Programme to enable us put in place needed infrastructure for the eventual commencement of full-scale production.”

Dangote assured that Dangote Sugar would change the trajectory by making Nigeria self-sufficient in the sector.

He explained that the company had spent billions of naira in developing infrastructural facilities for host communities.

At the event, the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, described the Dangote Sugar Refinery as the biggest contributor to the sugar development stride of the Federal Government.