Nigeria’s drive to expand domestic sugar production is set to generate 110,000 direct and indirect jobs, supporting over one million livelihoods across the national value chain.
Kamar Bakrin, executive secretary and chief executive officer of the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), made this known during an interactive session with the leadership of the Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CICAN).
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Highlighting the structural shift in Nigeria’s macroeconomic environment, Bakrin stressed that current policies have repositioned local cultivation as a more sustainable alternative to import dependency.
“The economics have changed; economic reforms have altered the previous cost advantage of importing sugar over producing it locally,” Bakrin stated. “The programme is expected to save Nigeria about 2.1 billion dollars annually in foreign exchange when fully implemented.”
At the centre of this drive is the council’s Sugarcane Outgrower Development Programme, which targets 11,000 hectares of farmer-grown sugarcane situated around existing sugar mills to deliver an estimated 880,000 tonnes of sugarcane annually.
The council has secured 7,000 hectares in partnership with stakeholders across Kwara, Niger, and Adamawa states, with initial planting across 1,320 hectares slated for completion ahead of off-take agreements to guarantee commercial markets for participating smallholders.
Bakrin noted that because sugarcane operates on a 12-to-18-month harvest cycle, expanding outgrower networks provides the fastest operational path to increasing raw material feed for domestic processors without awaiting new mill construction.
To satisfy the high-volume demand for planting materials, the council has established 222 hectares of seed cane farms across Kwara, Kano, and Oyo states, with plans for an additional 122 hectares to produce nearly 19,000 tonnes of certified seed stock for the 2026–2027 planting season.
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The NSDC is also deploying advanced bud-chip technology, capable of generating 30 million seedlings and drastically reducing the nursery footprint required for large-scale cultivation.
“With that, a 20,000-hectare estate will only need about 260 hectares of nursery,” Bakrin explained. “Before now it needed about 6,000, so you can just imagine the huge difference.”
The initiative is reinforced by a human capital development component through the Nigeria Sugar Institute, which trained 95 professionals in 2026, comprising 80 certified in basic agronomy and 15 graduate trainees skilled in field and laboratory operations.
Through technical training, yield optimisation, and integrated processing models, the NSDC aims to secure domestic sugar self-sufficiency, retain local economic value, and mitigate foreign exchange exposure.
Ngozi Ekugo holds an MSc in Management from the University of Hertfordshire. She is also an alumna of University of Lagos, Queen’s College, and an Associate Member of CIPM. Her experience includes a brief exposure in the Human Capital Management division of Goldman Sachs in London. She draws on her cross-sector experience to cover employment trends, career opportunities and international mobility.
