The Dangote Group is making a bold move back into agriculture by sponsoring the 2025 National Agricultural Show, a commitment that underlines its ambition to help restore and modernize Nigeria’s farming sector. The annual event, scheduled to open on November 25 in Keffi, Nasarawa State, provides a high-profile platform to push mechanized farming, strengthen food security, and generate real economic value.
Dangote’s spokesman, Anthony Chiejina, emphasized that scaling up mechanized agriculture could serve as a powerful engine for Nigeria’s GDP growth while also creating meaningful jobs, especially for young people. “Through this partnership, the company aims to encourage greater participation in commercial agriculture and reinforce its role in advancing Nigeria’s economic growth,” he stated.
The show’s theme, “Employing Smallholder Farmers: Restoring Value, Ensuring Productivity,” reflects how Dangote sees small-scale farmers as central to rebuilding the country’s agricultural value chain. The group argues that, with modern techniques and the right incentives, farming can once again become a reliable pillar of Nigeria’s economy.
Chiejina put it plainly: “Restoring the value of agriculture offers Nigeria more than nostalgic appeal; it provides a pragmatic route to economic renewal. With the right incentives and modern practices, agriculture can once again serve as a reliable engine of growth, anchoring jobs, stabilising markets and giving the economy a sturdier foundation.”
As part of its broader agribusiness strategy, Dangote is also investing heavily in physical infrastructure. The company is building rice mills across several states, including Kano, Jigawa, Niger, Kebbi, and Sokoto with a combined capacity of 1.5 million tonnes per annum.
Beyond rice, the group is developing backward-integration projects in sugar, particularly in Nasarawa and Adamawa States. It is also operating a fertilizer complex in the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos, with a production capacity of 3 million metric tonnes of urea each year.
Fatima Wali-Abdurrahman, Senior Adviser to the President of the Dangote Group, has framed these investments as part of a long-term mission: restoring value to agro-industrialisation in Nigeria.
Organizers of the National Agricultural Show agree that Dangote’s support has been more than just financial; it has been crucial. Arc Kabiru Adamu, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Agricultural Foundation of Nigeria and President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), praised Dangote as “our greatest ally since inception,” noting that without its help, the event would struggle to run efficiently.
Supporters believe this year’s show will draw an especially strong crowd: farm machinery manufacturers, agricultural processors, researchers, and many youth and women farmers are expected to attend.
Dangote’s investment signals a deepening of private-sector engagement in Nigeria’s agrarian economy, potentially boosting food security, employment, and GDP. By building rice mills and fertilizer capacity, the company helps reduce import dependence, strengthen the agricultural value chain, and spur industrial growth, all of which contribute to macroeconomic resilience.
