Rotimi Williams is the owner of second largest rice farm in Nigeria
Nigerians consume more than 5 million metric tons of rice every year, with a significant portion of its consumption needs sourced from imports. Rotimi Williams, an ambitious 36 year-old Nigerian entrepreneur and rice farmer, is on a quest to change that.

Williams, a former Journalist, is the owner of Kereksuk Rice Farm, the 2nd largest commercial rice farm in Nigeria by land size. His farm, which is situated in Nasarawa state in northern Nigeria, currently sits on 43,000 hectares and employs more than 100 indigenes of Nasarawa.

I recently caught up with the budding entrepreneur in Lagos, and had a brief chat with him where he recounted his journey and mused on how Nigeria can attain self-sufficiency in rice production in the near future.

What’s your educational and professional background?

I attended King’s College in Lagos. After attending secondary school at King’s College I proceeded to obtain my first degree at University of Aberdeen where I graduated with a degree in Economics. I also obtained a Master’s Degree in Economics from the same institution. My quest for more knowledge led me to enroll for yet another Master’s Degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London where I gained an MSc. in Finance and Development Studies.

Upon graduation, I landed a role as an analyst at the European Economics and Financial Centre in London. Afterwards, Euromoney Magazine- employed me where I covered the African space.

I would say that this is where my journey truly started.

Given your background as a journalist, what informed your decision to venture into rice farming?

While at Euromoney, I had the opportunity to travel around a few African countries. These trips exposed me to countries like Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia and Ghana. A common thread amongst the aforementioned nations is agriculture. Agriculture is at the very core of these countries and this got me thinking. After a few more trips, I decided to move back to Nigeria and sink my teeth into the agricultural space. Nigeria remains the largest economy in Africa from both a GDP perspective and also the strength of the size of our population.

Upon my arrival back in Nigeria, I got a job at a premier Bank where I was promised to sit on the agriculture desk – my hope was that I would gain enough knowledge of the Nigerian agricultural industry and develop myself from there.

Unfortunately, the agricultural desk at the Bank never quite achieved its set goals. I pushed hard for the Bank to adopt policies and gain inroads into the agricultural industry but my attempts were somewhat frustrated. I sincerely feel that the bank wasn’t quite ready to launch fully into the agricultural space.

As my frustration grew, I decided to quit banking and planned to go it alone into agriculture. Frankly, my decision led to a challenging sojourn as attempts to raise funding with my partner proved difficult. We started a Structured Trade and Commodity Finance company. After a while I started consulting for small agriculture companies seeking to raise capital both locally and internationally.

You currently own the second (2nd) largest rice farm in Nigeria with 45,000 hectares in Nasarawa, Nigeria. What’s the story behind your acquisition of such vast land, and what are some of the challenges you’ve encountered in farming in the volatile northern region?

Two years had past and we still had no funds, so I made an offer to the farm owner, that with a 50-50 split, I would develop the farm with both personal funds and external funding. He agreed and that’s how I became part owner of 17,296 hectares of farmland. Knowing that agriculture would become the integral area of focus in Nigeria, I was bullish and ramped up the land to 55,000 hectares. I later parted with my partner as a result of unaligned views and strategy. I maintained 45,000 hectares for myself and today we have started producing, with our quality paddy being sold to major milling companies in Nigeria. However, I must add the following, I often have people ask how I learned abut farming, as everyone thinks you need a special degree in agriculture to be a farmer, but I always tell them the truth, I learnt it all on Google. I downloaded every article I could find on rice production, consumed it and then practiced it in the fields.


http://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2016/06/27/meet-the-36-year-old-entrepreneur-who-owns-nigerias-2nd-largest-rice-farm/#78ba921171fd

Www.wikipedia.org/-u_4400b9bdac408dd6fcd53332230b90dbe587fc2c-/wiki/Rotimi_Williams?iorg_service_id_internal=1547440102204384%3BAfoYp0dDOxIW3V-Z

45000 hectares
8,000 tons of rice produced annually
Note, rice farm
45,000 hectares
Damn

Nice. But there's need for accurate reportage. 100 persons can never farm 45,000 hectares without dying within a year from excessive work

Inspiring!

healthserve:
Nice. But there's need for accurate reportage. 100 persons can never farm 45,000 hectares without dying within a year from excessive work

U never hear of tractors?

immortalityk:

U never hear of tractors?

Trust me its not possible even with tractors. I'm a first grade agro entrepreneur its not possible even with 200 persons. 100,000 acres 100 persons. Lolz

Nigerians can lie

healthserve:




Trust me its not possible even with tractors. I'm a first grade agro entrepreneur its not possible even with 200 persons. 100,000 acres 100 persons. Lolz

45000 hectares in nassarawa
They have large land there

Abfinest007:
Nigerians can lie

It was reported by Forbes and cowbell milk
U no see link there?
The guy is even on wikipedia

immortalityk:

45000 hectares in nassarawa
They have large land there

The land I don't doubt.I have no issues with the dude. The reportage is faulty. 100 persons can't handle 45000 hectares even with tractors

Abfinest007:
Nigerians can lie

healthserve:




The land I don't doubt.I have no issues with the dude. The reportage is faulty. 100 persons can't handle 45000 hectares even with tractors

Not all the 45,000 hectares can be used
At most only half will be in use

immortalityk:

Not all the 45,000 hectares can be used
At most only half will be in use

I'm.an agro industrialist. Check my threads. To cultivate even 20,000 acres he'll need at least 1000 persons. After cultivation is it tractors that also does the row by row weeding, ssecurity, logistics, application of fertilisers, herbicides. Etc?

healthserve:
Nice. But there's need for accurate reportage. 100 persons can never farm 45,000 hectares without dying within a year from excessive work

The 100 Employees will be full staff. Not those casual labour used for cultivation/harvest. Those are usually casual hesd count.

sholatech:


The 100 Employees will be full staff. Not those casual labour used for cultivation/harvest. Those are usually casual hesd count.

Okay.

Which farm is then the largest and who owns it?