Fa' -~"
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E-mail: ag@businessdayonline.com Tel.: 0803 n~ 0471
Lentus Ventures establishes cassava-processing plant in Edo
Exploring DHL's option in 1farm produce export II
15
"..10 prr lCl'~ 120 tons of cassava flour. slarch monthly
long as they can find iL
I have discovered thaI many
'"
commerdal m.niilger, DHL
~,riosbyOlUYINr.A ~L\WODE
Aviation, e%plained how the company had been handUng
W
__ or...."...,. Jogtltia;, warehousing and
.n
eslimlled 2 0 million t<.IHerianl lIying ollUide therounuy,either pecmanendy or temporarily. thf' d~ lOr
--"-"'"
h\JF. As IlpicWluraJ produce pcri5hIbIes.. timely ddMry il crilicai. Many ,'spOMer. of perishables hllvt' become IR
pmduceuerporun, notingtha! dle<Xllnp;lllyPIIYSmoreanentim 10 quality. safely. and pado:agIrc
PfO\'.
of these agricultural produce !han lIllY ocher smice • "HL uanspom. perisbabIcI .... farmen:and~ IIb.yoml elplaioed how OHL "vi_don provides IoglstiCi services for farmen,
dl!couraged due m It espoilage
~ordeaJersthale:KpOl1
EdobonsAJepajllc. afarmerl chlefeacutM. Vi:oliotlll8CAgro. loch Rmn. atteslSroihedifficulty e.ponm of ped~h.bleJ ~
his non tabs into comkleralion
""",,""--,pn>bI<m.
encounl~53)'ing"Jhenthere
are prOlong~d Jr.>", these Items Fl spoilt OC! deliYery, therefore result! g in losses .. the CU5tOIllel" ~. muse to
..... fuII.., &J:~
.~
fair. Adetoll
A~ayoml .
oes th 100aming of ~GoodI"'" c thai he wuuld eel wilb any head 0{ par.tstat thallobble5 baninae;aslein~. .ho slgnedthe2012 glllast:-*. mean there is no JO'5ibIIfty of an In~ in Ol:ation for
D
'oDal
.....".....
=:~Et~::g=
blltlon aBocated I agrlcuitW't was not tufIidem lrdeed the: govmunetlt"_ determinlld to
accomplish i!5 b"anS'"onnaoon
ptrist\ilbleslOocheroountl"ie5,.l5
the need for a controlled lell1pcnllUTe and ower lhing5 neceI5iU)' to keep the produce In good condition and IIiIfe rof the C005tune1"5 during freight. lie said: "The handling and management of the entire logistics process of produce need a tt:mpt:mure controlled supply chain, IS products safety has direct impact on the
romumer'l heallh." g!vIng!OfDt tips to fanne:s and deaJeq on handling or these perishables. Mfred Uwherl!b, chief t:XI!CUtM of Frifay Consull, an agro-processing fum exporting fish. yam, pepper and 50 on, reiterated the fad that dt:mand b NIfpian bxl was betomlns rnu!M in EmJpc!.America and other conlincnb. According to him. his linn'l m;ifof ~ Is meeting the demand, as he noctddwbSlalepvnmcntS do not know how 10 create wealdl from IgricuItUle Hesakl thb ~ the f1!IIl5OllS why a lot 0{ farm produce get wasted oncedlCf1!WMagtutduringthe SCiISOfIS of certainlamt pnxI~ MeanwhIle,lhereisa~
dBnand for Nf8erian Ii'xxb. he exptlllned. "Apart (rom the facI:
that there Ble many Nigerians ~aJxo.d. ther.'mlgewhltt man isan .tventuristwith food. Once they IaQe ait).1hin& &om any pan of dle world. and they like II, they conlinue eallng
Americans and ltaliansiove the UI$Ul of our catllsh. c:rwyfisb and prpper. Another factor driving demand for African CIItfish Is that health consdouspeopieare moving away from bee£' FIIJay Consult has been expolling Nigerian foods for more than II decade, and Uwher.lka admitted thaI there were: 100 of Iogislia problems 100ith tome airlines concemint: perishables, saying. Ihough I have not exponed directly through 0 111..1 hIM: CUSlOIl1eS1l' thai requesl thai the items be sent through DHL and they settle dlCbill!. DlIL.apparently vey effectlve because. It already has a ItlOng courier se.rvices MtwOrl e:llminatInsissues of prolonged dela,.. tha.t some airUnes have Another airline thlt I have found to be very dJecItve Is Qatar Airline." Frijay expons yun through Ihlpment bUI sends o lher items through air fRighL lie however noted that "a major faclor affectlns Nigerian exporters of farm produ ce Is that CO!! of production Is hJsher in Nigerian. Though our foods ha\'C superior W1es, our production costs which affect prices mab it difficult b lIS 10 be rompetitfYe lhen: are other African and Asian coumries thalare abo pu5hing to get their foods globally accepted and the people are nltIonaI ....ilc:n II mmes to spendirI& money; Also, Victor Chukwuogo, chief executive, Vic Royal Resources, 511ld 'he however prders ,hlpmenl which Is cheaper, but sir transpon is better for &est! vep;etables and pt:ppers..- lie abo t:IpOrtJ dry" foods throu&h sir transport, depending on the: destination. aDd. saki "I h:we not tried Dt-n. because I know thai; II would be much more tIptfI5iYe."
_
GODfREY DfURUM entus Ventures LlIlllled, B Lagos· ba ~ ed food · Jro cessing outfil. has established a cusava processi n g plant in Ugo In Orhiontnwon Local Government Area of Edo State. The plant. which hall two nas h driers, hu the capacity to process 120 tons of cassava flour and starch pel" month Donatus lmaghodor, chairman of the company, laid BwinessDay thai It look the company eight years to come up with the plant, utilising locally fabricated machines for its operations, and therefore urged the Federal Governmenl to encourage local machines fabri ca tors by providing them finance and other ~tives 10 develop more machines 115 weU 85 improve on the develo ped ones.. According 10 him, one of tbemajorchaDengesweh.a\ol! in the processing industry for now is unavailability of peelin g machine for cassava Oour and starch _ The available machines are not effective and even the Imported ones end up crushin g your assava tuber, th ereby reducing your OUIPUL r-or inslana!, there i5 a cassava nour proc essing
L
plant dose to Ihis factory, the owner in\ol!Sledwell over NISOmlllion on machinery. which he imported from England. bUI those machines couldn'l work, bul he was shocked when he visited our factory and saw what we were able to achieve with locllily fabri c ated equlpmenl, Imaghodor disclosed Lack of power Is another major challenge he Identified, and urged the federal and Siale governments to provide power In the rural areas, nOllng that provis ion of electricity in such places would belp reduce thclrcosl of production, create more jobs for rural dwellers as ..... ell as reduce ntral-urban migration. ·Our factories are sited in tbe rural areas. where \\o"e source our raw material easily. However. Ihese communities do nOI have eloctridty and $Owe run the faCloryongene.raton.. which makeourcosl of production expensive. Imagine burning diesel for a minimum of eight hours dally al N 170 per litre.- he nOled. He:. therefore appealed 10 the Federal Government 10 ensure thai the nour millers utilise cassava flour in their production. according to the Fedent1 Government's policy Comln.-onp!lpJt
'N79bn too small for agriculture in 2012 budget' .......... ... ....
agenda_ In the 2012 budget. education sector got N400 billion. health Nl8J billion. worlr::a and transpon seclor NI80 billion. Though there bu been a 5trong damour by dtizemb"tnnsronnaticmin the
programme of the Federal
Gc:/YmunerllgMnltJe~
small amounl &located 10 the 1i(PbecI0I"1O~1he~
Oneoftho8ewholiruitedthB amouru.ls the Ibadan 0Wnber of Commeroe (la::), member
power got NI61 bIllion, while:
of Ihe Nigerian As~ociation or Chambers of Commerce,
agricuIruregota~N78.98
Industty, Minesand~
billion. The .akeholdelS are
(NACCIMA) . Emmanuel Foloru nso · Ogu nnaike , d1afrman. agrk: uade group of
t:nefJY and ttgricultural sectot
mncemedabouttbeoulcome:of
the agrklaltural tra.n:5rormruion
Icc,. said in a 5latemenl made: ...-ailab\e to BustnessDay by the c::hamber bdt:n the: signing of ", "the N78..98 bUlion allocated 10 agriculture snd rural deveklpment in the proposed 2012 budge:( • too m~ for the sector, consequent upon the food insecurity and dunl, Immlne:nt ln NJ&eria and Africa, thus. calls for the Increase In the allocallon. 10 Improve
agricuIlWl!. bei"Bker to national
devdopmenl"
Fobunso ·Qsunnafke. who is also chler executive, FOLHOPE& EFOGIoryCcmmerdal Servk:eI Nlgelia. called on all 'I.keholder~,
Mohammed Mongono, chlinnan. House CommIttee on ~ and A.lr::inwluni Adeslnll, minister of agriculture and rura l ~pmenl. Indulling banb to make concened eITons al
revamping the agricultural sectt1hebmentcedWrman. Poultry t\sJodaUon or ~ (PAN)Sou!h·Weafllleria,hthe SGltmlt:I1t ~ rqret that ~poemmentst.djm:l
~1O~tit:rIe ~ which resuhed In low bx1 producUvity in the aumy and the ertJ5Ion of imeftst In the
-
espedIJIy among }Wths. whotrooped tothedtlesln.-cl1
secIOf,
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