The National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) says its sugar development programme is expected to create 110,000 direct and indirect jobs and support more than one million livelihoods across Nigeria’s sugar value chain.
The council’s Executive Secretary, Kamar Bakrin, disclosed this at a news conference organised by the Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CICAN) in Abuja.
He said expanding domestic sugarcane cultivation and processing would advance four national priorities: foreign exchange savings, job creation, rural economic development and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
“When Nigeria grows and processes its own sugarcane, four national priorities move forward together,” Bakrin said.
He said the council’s Sugarcane Outgrower Development Programme was targeting 11,000 hectares of farmer-grown sugarcane around existing sugar mills to boost local production and improve farmers’ incomes.
According to him, 7,000 hectares have already been identified with partners in Kwara, Niger and Adamawa states, while the first 1,320 hectares are scheduled for planting by 2027.
The programme is expected to produce about 880,000 tonnes of sugarcane annually, with agreements being developed to guarantee markets for participating farmers.
Bakrin said the outgrower model would spread economic benefits across numerous smallholder farmers rather than concentrate production and income among a few large estates.
He added that sugarcane could be ready for harvesting within 12 to 18 months, making the initiative a potentially faster route to increased domestic production than building new sugar mills.
The council is also investing in improved planting materials to raise productivity and support large-scale cultivation.
Bakrin said about 222 hectares of seedcane farms had been established in Kwara, Kano and Oyo states, with an additional 122 hectares planned.
The farms are expected to produce nearly 19,000 tonnes of certified seedcane for the 2026–2027 planting season.
He said the council was developing four nuclear seed farms and supplying outgrowers with clean starter seed stock for multiplication.
The NSDC executive secretary also highlighted the adoption of bud-chip technology, which reduces the land required for nursery production and accelerates sugarcane planting.
“With that, a 20,000-hectare estate will only need about 260 hectares of nursery. Before now it needed about 6,000, so you can just imagine the huge difference,” he said.
Bakrin said the council had developed the capacity to produce about 30 million seedlings using the technology.
On skills development, he said the Nigeria Sugar Institute had trained 95 professionals in 2026, including 80 who received certification in basic sugarcane agronomy.
The remaining 15 graduate trainees, he added, had received practical training in field operations and laboratory work.
Bakrin said the programme would strengthen rural economies, expand employment opportunities and improve livelihoods by increasing sugarcane cultivation and processing.
The initiative forms part of efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s domestic sugar industry, reduce dependence on imported sugar and expand economic opportunities across the sugar value chain.
