Plans are underway by one of the leading company in the animal feed industry, Olam Nigeria Limited to build a $100 million ultra modern soybean crushing and processing plant in Nasarawa State.
The project would be sited along the Keffi/Abuja expressway, will cover about 200 hectares of land.
Ade Adefeto, vice president corporate affairs and government relations, disclosed this while on an official visit to Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, at the Government House in Lafia.
Adefeto explained that Olam already has established state-of-the-art poultry and fish feed plants in Ilorin, Kwara State and Kaduna State, with such facilities directly addressing the supply gap for poultry products in Nigeria, giving farmers and distributors access to high quality feed, as well as day-old chicks.
Adefeto added that the company’s local sourcing of raw materials such as soya beans and corn for its animal feed operations, has positively impacted on the lives of more than 300, 000 small holder farmers in the country.
On the envisaged plant in Nasarawa, he furthered that Olam will implement backward integration by establishing a soya beans crushing and processing plant with an initial capacity of about 50, 000 metric tonnes, which is to be scaled up over three years to 300, 000 metric tonnes.
“The purpose mainly is to establish an ultra modern soya beans crushing and processing plant with a capacity for 750 tonnes per day in phase one and upscaled again over a period of three years,” he stated.According to him, the proposed multi million dollar investment will significantly impact farmers’ livelihoods, as well as generate thousands of skilled and unskilled jobs, in line with the policy thrust of the Sule’s administration.
Adefeto further disclosed plans by his company to upscale the soya beans processing plant to other agricultural commodities such as groundnuts in the future, thus making Nasarawa State a bastion of employment prospects.
“It’s important to understand that Nasarawa State is the gateway to the North West, North East and North Central, that is why we are giving Nasarawa State the first option,” he said.
Nasarawa State governor, Abdullahi Sule, in his response, described the proposal from Olam Nigeria Limited, as the greatest birthday gift he will receive.
Sule thanked the Olam Group for everything the company is doing not only in Nasarawa State but the country at large.
“I told you that we will shift everything that we are doing today in order to receive you because we want the $100 million to come to Nasarawa State,” he stated.
The governor immediately constituted a team comprising of the state Commissioner for Lands and Urban Development, Mohammed Tanimu Sarki, Commissioner for Agriculture, Nuhu Ibrahim Oshafu, MD/CEO, Nasarawa Investment Development Agency (NASIDA) and Special Adviser on Political Matters, Mohammed Dikko, to liaise with representatives of Olam, with a view to finding suitable location for the proposed plant.
It would be recalled that, already Olam Nigeria Limited, has established one of the largest multi million dollar rice production company in Africa located in Rukubi, Doma Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
SOURCE :BUSINESS DAY NEWS.
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