Osinbajo commissions Pandagric Novum Farms in Nasarawa

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3 years ago

Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on Friday, commissioned the Pandagric Novum Farms, an integrated feed and food manufacturing company in Panda, Karu LGA of Nasarawa State.

Key investors in the project include Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and Signature Agri Investments.

Speaking at the event, the vice president noted that the commissioning of the project was a foretaste of many possibilities and opportunities for investments, in agriculture and other sectors in the country.

While calling for more private sector investments in the agriculture sector, Mr Osinbajo promised that the Federal Government will continue to create the enabling environment to encourage more private sector investments in the agriculture sector.

He lauded NSIA for its massive investment in the agriculture value chain in the country spanning over 10 years.

The NSIA was enlisted by President Muhammadu Buhari as the project implementing entity of the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI), which was established in 2016 to address the problem of cost and availability of fertilizer.

The vice president said, “What you see today confirms that there is opportunity in Nigeria for investments in agriculture. While government commits to creating an enabling environment, we will look to the private sector for investments to galvanize growth in the sector. We must indeed, work together to redefine agriculture for the future in Nigeria.

“Over its 5-year run (2017 -2021), the programme has delivered over 30 million 50kg bags of NPK 20:10:10 fertiliser to Nigerian farmers, resuscitated the fertiliser blending industry, reviving over 60 otherwise moribund plans scattered across the country, created hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs and enabled the government to conserve foreign exchange by import substitution amounting to over US$100million.

“With the sector now reactivated, the NSIA’s role in the fertilizer value chain has moved upstream.”

He also lauded NSIA for the establishment of the Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria (FAFIN) in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the KfW, a development bank.

He said the organization 2018, invested US$5.0 million in Babban Gona, a high-impact, a scalable agricultural franchise that seeks to sustainably improve the lives of smallholder farmers through the provision of credit, inputs, training in good agricultural practices, harvesting & storage services, and marketing services.

He added, that NSIA in 2017, “established an Agriculture Development Fund under a 50:50 joint venture with the Old Mutual Group of South Africa, with a commitment of US$50 million (US$25 million each) towards the development and investment in large-scale agriculture projects, combined with out-grower schemes.

“In 2018, the Fund committed US$29 million towards the acquisition and two-phased development of the Pandagric Novum Farms, an animal feed processing business with backward integration through the farming of maize and soybean.”

He noted that the company has recorded an unprecedented milestone in the country, which has assisted greatly in reducing unemployment, and poverty and enhanced food production.

He commended Pandagric for providing boreholes for all six of its neighbouring communities and developing an out-grower scheme while providing inputs and training to over 500 smallholder farmers.

“It employs almost 800 direct staff and 2,000 indirect staff, making it the largest contributor of PAYE to Nasarawa State; and presently has the largest maize farm across the country,” the VP said.

He lauded Governor, Abdullahi Sule for the visionary zeal he has deployed in three and a half years to make Nasarawa the State of choice for Agricultural investment in Nigeria”, the VP added that the Governor’s support was fundamental in the completion of the project.

Also speaking at the occasion, Governor Sule commended the reinvigorated efforts of the Federal Government to support agricultural development across the country.

He said though the project was conceived and pursued by his predecessors in office, ongoing efforts by the Buhari administration in the sector, making it possible for its completion.

He assured the investors and other stakeholders in the project of the state government’s continuous support, urging the investors to expand to other major agricultural production areas in the State.

The Business Development Manager of Signature Agri Investments, Mr Theo van der Veen said the company will leverage opportunities for more investments in agriculture in Nigeria starting with the expansion of the Pandagric project to cover more hectares of land.

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