Nigeria Breweries has signed a 3-
year agreement to strengthen the participation of smallholder farmers in the
local economy in sub-saharan Africa Naijaagronet news gathered.
The PPP agreement which will be implemented
by a consortium comprising IFDC,ICRA and Boplnc is part of a Dutch funded initiative known as 2SCALE aimed at improving rural
livelihoods and food security in Africa.
Netherlands Minister for Foreign Trade and
Development Cooperation Lilianne Ploumen who attended the signing of the MoU in
Nigeria recently, as part of her trade mission with leading Dutch businesses,
said: "HEINEKEN's decision to take part in a programme like 2SCALE proves
there are real opportunities in Africa for the Dutch private sector and
enjoined more Dutch companies to invest in Nigeria and Africa.
Managing Director, Nigerian Breweries, Nico
Vervelde noted that the MoU was part of Nigerian Breweries' ambition to support
local economic development and promote inclusive growth by sourcing
agricultural raw materials, like cassava, locally from Small and Medium Scale
Enterprises, SMEs.
“Through our partnership with Psaltry, we
are taking a big step towards further realising this ambition”, he said.
On 2SCALES’s participation in the PPP, business
developer in 2SCALE, Niek van Dijk, stated that the
program was aimed at empowering many people adding that “we see small-scale
farmers as potential entrepreneurs that can add value to both local markets as
well as Dutch companies. It is not philanthropy for companies to do business
with small-scale farmers, it's an opportunity to grow for all parties and we
are very pleased that Nigerian Breweries is supporting this initiative".
Under the terms of the MoU, the partners
will work together to support small-scale farmers in the production of more and
better cassava through technical assistance, training and easier access to
finance. The PPP will enable more smallholder farmers to participate in the
market for processed cassava products and will allow, Nigerian Breweries to
increase the amount of locally grown cassava products used in their local
beers.
The PPP also supports HEINEKEN's commitment
to deliver 60 % of its African raw materials requirements via local sourcing by
2020.
Chukwudi Obi
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