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Saturday, April 9, 2016

Olam invests $159m on animal feed, poultry breeding in Nigeria

NaijaAgroNet:
Olam International, a leading agri-business operating across the value chain in 70 countries, has revealed it invested estimated US$150.0 million, about N30 billion to set up two state-of-the-art animal feed mills, poultry breeding farms and a hatchery for day-old-chicks in Nigeria, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This was disclosed at the commencement of works on the project site in Kaduna State by Olam’s CEO for Africa, Mr Venkataramani Srivathsan, of the US$150.0 million in total investments, approximately US$100.0 million has been committed to building and operating the facilities in Kaduna State, while US$50.0 million is for a second phase of the investment in integrated poultry and fish feed mill located in Kwara State.

"This is the latest investment by Olam in Nigeria’s domestic food and agricultural production sector after our recent investments in wheat milling assets and the ongoing development of our 10,000-hectare rice farm and mill in Nasarawa State," he said.

The event which was co-hosted in Kaduna State by Olamide Group Nigeria and Governor of Kaduna State, H.E. Malam Nasir el-Rufai, played host to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Innocent Ogbeh who represented President Muhammadu Buhari. 


The Olam boss also said that the new venture into animal feed is a win-win for his company and Nigeria. 

"Domestically produced meat is being hampered by a lack of good quality feed, support for farmers and availability of young stock, but consumption is set to increase. By investing in poultry and fish feed, we can utilize the wheat bran from our wheat milling operations, as well as maximize our sourcing networks to buy corn and soy from local farmers.  Our investment in the hatchery will help boost poultry production and, in the long run, help reduce the country’s reliance on imports. This development underlines the continued confidence we share in Nigeria’s ambition for self-sufficiency," he said.

A press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet by the Head Corporate and Government Relations at OLAM Nigeria, Ade Adefeko, noted that with full capacity, both feed mills are expected to produce in excess of 600,000 tonnes per annum of high-quality poultry and fish feed, with the Kaduna facility supplying mainly to the Northern markets and the Kwara facility to the South-west region. 

"The poultry breeding farm in Kaduna is expected to produce over one million hatching eggs every week for the hatchery," he said, even as the feed mills will procure most of their corn and soybean requirements locally, spurring growth of these domestic crops.

For this, Olam will create over 100,000 metric tonnes of in-house storage capacity, which will also help support food security.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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PIX: Governor, Kaduna State, Malam Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai discussing a point of interest with MD/CEO, Africa and Middle East Olam International,  Venkataramani Srivathsan, after performing the groundbreaking ceremony of Nigeria’s largest N20billion integrated  Animal feed mill Poultry breeding farms and hatchery held at Chikpiri Gabas Village Chikun LGA, in Kaduna State Friday 8th April, 2016 while the Deputy Governor, Kaduna State Architect Barnabas Bala Bantex looks on

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