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Africa’s wealthiest man Aliko Dangote has expressed an interest in investing in Sudan’s agricultural sector. His interest in the market aligns with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCTA) objective to create one of the world’s largest free markets and increase intra-African trade up to 52.3 percent by 2022.
Dangote, who believes sugar and wheat will be the future of the Sudanese agricultural industry, noted in a statement to the Africa Report that he is considering investing in the sector to tap into its economic gains.
He added that Sudan’s proximity to the huge consumer demand for soft commodities in Egypt and the Middle East sparked his interest.
Sudan has large tracks of irrigated land in the country’s wheat-growing region, which span more than 800,000 hectares.
The presence of a hybrid heat-resistant wheat variety has helped scale up production in the nation and increase self-sufficiency to meet the growing demand for the staple.
The AFDB also recently reported that Sudan achieved a bumper harvest and record production in the 2019-2020 crop season, with a total wheat production of 1.15 million tonnes.
This was the highest production level ever recorded in the history of Sudanese wheat production, with a self-sufficiency ratio of almost 50 percent attained in the period.
Dangote, who is the founder of Africa’s most diversified manufacturing conglomerate, Dangote Industries Ltd., has a total net worth of about $16.3 billion ( N6.7 trillion) according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.
He has recently expanded his sugar business production capacity by acquiring Savannah Sugar Ltd. in 2020. He is reconsidering going back into the wheat business after selling off Dangote Flour Mills to Olam in 2019 for N120 billion ($290 million).
