The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority on Monday said it acquired a fully integrated maize and soya beans farm in Panda, Nasarawa State to expand its investment portfolio in agriculture in the country.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive of NSIA, Uche Orji, said the new investment underscores NSIA and UFF’s interest in Nigeria’s agricultural sector, underpinned by a shared vision of existing significant socio-economic opportunities.
“Agriculture is Nigeria’s largest source of employment and remains a key focus area for the NSIA given its potential to contribute towards stimulating the economy,” Mr. Orji said. “The UFF-NAIC Agriculture Fund is seeking to enhance the sector by attracting capital and modern technology to critical aspects of the value chain to stimulate production and related economic activities.\"
He said the Fund would acquire and develop a 3,500 hectares of land, out of which 2,300 hectares would cover arable area, in a region recognised for its superior soil types, access to reliable irrigation water and history of consistent productivity.
Mr. Orji said additional capital would be deployed to expand the farm’s existing infrastructure [including a feedmill] to increase its installed capacity and enhance the overall quality and quantity of output.
He said the feed mill ‘name plate’ would be increased by 60 per cent to raise the output tonnage from 61,330 tons to 96,400 tons, while the oil and maize mills’ installed capacity would increase by 300 per cent and from 8,800 tons to 35,000 tons respectively.
Equally, the fish feed capacity would be raised from zero to 26,300 tons, the expected social impact of creating 10,000 direct and indirect jobs as well as 500 support services and small businesses.
“The capital injection will be used to construct and install state of the art irrigation infrastructure, water reservoirs, grain storage and processing facilities. Also, the farming operations will be expanded to serve as input sources to the processing plant.\"
Source: Premium Times // Original Article
