SUGARCANE ECONOMY : FLOUR MILLS NIG BUILDS N50BN SUNTI GOLDEN SUGAR ESTATE
SUGARCANE ECONOMY : FLOUR MILLS NIG BUILDS N50BN SUNTI GOLDEN SUGAR ESTATE
By:
Nurudeen Dauda
March 15,2018
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In my observation, if the problem of unemployment in Nigeria, is to be solved, governments at all levels must put more efforts towards attracting private sector investments. If the governments of the day, at all levels, are serious about employment provision or creation among its teeming unemployed youth , they must continue to invest more and more resources in security and infrastructure in order to attract private sector investments.
Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, (FMN Group) has completed its biggest agricultural investment in Nigeria with the establishment of the Sunti Golden Sugar Estate in Niger State.
"The farm, at peak production, is expected to provide direct employment for about 10,000 people yearly, and impact up to 50,000 people indirectly, including 3,000 small-scale out growers who will be cultivating sugarcane to feed the mill" (Daily Trust, March 8, 2018).
"The sugar estate features 17,000 hectares of irrigable farmland and a sugar mill that process 4,500 metric tonnes of sugarcane per day. At full capacity, the estate is expected to produce 1 Million tons of sugarcane which roughly translates into 100,000 metric tonnes of sugar yearly..."(Daily Trust, March 8, 2018).
There is the issue of the Diversification of the "Economy", my humble suggestion to governments at all levels is that they should pay more than a "Lip- Service "towards Sugar Self- Sufficiency. The federal government should deploy its " Fiscal Policy " towards attaining that.
Northern states Governors where most of the Sugarcane cultivation potentials is should equally give a collaborative support to the federal government towards the attainment of Sugar Self- Sufficiency in the country . With Sugar Economy if vigorously pursued we could sustain the Economy.
Nigeria has a land potential of over 500,000 hectares of suitable cane fields capable of producing over 5 million metric tons of sugar. In Nigeria you can grow sugarcane in commercial quantity in the following states: Kaduna, Jigawa, Adamawa, Niger,Kwara, Taraba, Nasarawa, Kebbi, and Kogi etc. The Nigerian Sugar market has an estimated potential of 1.7 million metric tons, according to the United States Development of Agriculture ( USDA). Much of the Sugar consume in Nigeria is imported from Brazil despite our huge potentials.
Nigeria was once described as a country which imports what it has and exports what it does not have. In the early 1990s during the political tension which was ,essentially, from the June 12 elections annulment, Nigeria had a lot of Internal security challenges due to the activities of the then Odua Peoples Congress,OPC, and the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, alike. More so, it was around that period that Nigeria played a vital role through ECOMOG in restoring order in Liberia and Sierra Leone. It was in the light of that, that some people argued then that Nigeria was busy exporting peace to the said countries at a time when it did not have.
The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Governor Mr. Godwin Emefiele,has once said : "Nigeria spends $100 million on importation of white sugar annually." ( Vanguard, May 5, 2017). $100million is about N20billion. In my humble opinion, Nigeria has no business in importing Sugar. With its population alone is a huge market of which if its Sugar potentials is fully harnessed it will provide a lot jobs and revenue to the government. Now that the "Chicken has finally come home to roost" we should go beyond "Lip- Service" in our Economic Diversification Drive. Let there be incentives to encourage Sugarcane farmers. Let's woo more both local and foreign investors into the sector.
The sugarcane Industry is one of Brazil’s most important economic sector in terms of job creation, with more than 1.1 million people employed nationwide. The average wage paid by member companies of the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) is said to roughly double their current federal minimum wage. Sugarcane ethanol and bioelectricity produced from leftover fibers, stalks and leaves make sugarcane the largest source of renewable energy in Brazil.
Sugarcane provides almost 17% of the country’s total energy supply, second only to oil and ahead of hydroelectricity. More than forty percent of the country’s gasoline needs have been replaced by sugarcane ethanol – making gasoline the alternative fuel in Brazil. Through it you can produce Bioelectricity. Bioelectricity is a clean and renewable energy, made by biomass – in Brazil, 80% made by the bagasse of the sugarcane. At the same time ethanol is as alternative to the use of oil, bioelectricity is the alternative to supplement the hydroelectric system . Brazil has a potential to produce energy through the said source.
Sugarcrops offers production alternatives to food, such as livestock feed, fibre and energy, particularly biofuels (sugar-based ethanol) and/or co-generation of electricity (cane bagasse). Sugarcane is generally regarded as one of the most significant and efficient sources of biomass for biofuel production. Stronger linkages between world sugar and oil prices have emerged, driven in part by the relationships between sugar as the primary ethanol feedstock in Brazil, the world’ dominant producer of sugarcane-based ethanol in the world.
The ten largest producers of Sugar are orderly Ranked as: (1) Brazil, (2) India ,(3.) EU, (4) China ,(5) Thailand ,(6) United States, (7) Mexico, (8) Pakistan,( 9) Australia, and (10) Russia. Cuba also has huge potential of Sugar production. Nigeria with our potentials we could be in the rank of these Sugar producing countries. We absolutely have no excuse not to be a Sugar Net Exporter. We have no business in being a Sugar Net Importer in view of our Sugar potentials. Let's pick up the challenge! The collapse of the price of crude oil at the International market should be our moral booster.
Permit me to congratulate the government of Niger state for its collaborative effort in making the project a reality.
May God bless Nigeria!