The National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) is implementing advanced planting technology to increase sugar production in Nigeria.
Speaking during a media parley in Abuja, Kamar Bakrin, NSDC executive secretary and CEO of the council, said NSDC has established seedcane farms to support sugar greenfield projects.
Greenfield projects involve the development of new sugar estates and processing plants on previously undeveloped land, allowing for large-scale and more efficient sugarcane farming.
“Through the Nigeria Sugar Institute (NSI), we are deploying modern planting technologies, particularly pre-sprouted bud set or bud chip technology. This represents a major shift from traditional whole-cane planting methods.
“NSI is already building capacity for large-scale bud chip propagation and integrating this technology into its research, training, and extension programmes. The impact is substantial: faster estate establishment, lower planting costs, improved field uniformity, and stronger quality control.
“Bud chip technology allows us to multiply planting materials faster, reduce costs, and cut between 12 and 18 months from the project development cycle,” Bakrin said.
According to him, the initiative will strengthen Nigeria’s domestic sugar industry, reduce dependence on imports, and support broader industrialisation and food security objectives.
Last year, the council signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with four greenfield sugar project promoters: Brent Sugar (Oyo), Niger Foods (Niger state), Legacy Sugar (Adamawa), and UMZA (Bauchi), to collectively produce 400,000 tonnes of sugar annually.
Bakrin noted that the plants are located across the south-west, north-central, and north-east geopolitical zones to boost economic growth, jobs, infrastructural development, and improve the livelihoods of the locals.
“Greenfield sugar projects are absolutely central to closing Nigeria’s domestic sugar production gap. These MoUs are not symbolic; they reflect concrete investment decisions that will translate into real production outcomes,” he added.
