Anambra targets large scale agriculture to boost food security, export

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Commissioner for Agriculture, Ben Odoemena and other dignitaries during the inauguration of the processing plant at Akwaeze.

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By Madu Obi

The Anambra State government says it is targeting large scale agriculture in the state to boost food security and make farmers earn foreign exchange from their produce.

The State Commissioner for Agriculture, Hon Ben Odoemena, dropped the hint while inaugurating Ideal Agro Allied Produce Limited, a tuber crop processing company at Akwaeze, Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State. The industry was founded by an industrialist and businessman, Chief Ikenna Okafor.

Odoemena promised that the administration of Prof Chukwuma Soludo will support farmers to engage in industrial scale farming across the state, having found out that subsistence farming only produces for consumption.

The Commissioner said: "We will encourage farmers to farm in commercial scale as this will not only guarantee food sufficiency, but also earn farmers foreign exchange. With the establishment of tuber crop processing plant, there would no longer be unsold and rotten farm produce because they will be processed and exported.

"I am happy that my first assignment after swearing is the inauguration of an agro processing plant that will ensure zero wastage in tuber crop. What we have here is the secret of agriculture in civilized climes.

In Anambra, we want to support industries like this because the Soludo administration has plans to support industrialized farming. We have passed the period of planting, harvesting and eating. We want to start cultivating, eating and exporting to enrich ourselves.

We want industries like this to drive agriculture and support what we intend to do in agriculture because if you harvest and no one buys them, it will waste. But this company has made the job easy for us to talk about the industrialization in the agricultural sector. This is part of the things Anambra will invest in and we will support businessmen like this.

The technology this company has will ensure that produce are processed and exported to guarantee foreign exchange earnings."

The Chairman of Ideal Agro Allied Produce Limited, Chief Ikenna Okafor, in his address, stressed that food security is very paramount for any society to succeed, adding that his company recently ventured into yam cultivation in large scale on a 200 plot farm in Ufuma, and has been earning foreign exchange from the produce.

According to him, the motivation to establish the tuber crop processing plant was to ensure that there is zero-wastage of farm produce, explaining that the company will process unsold tuber crop for farmers, package them for export and remit proceeds to the farmers, after deducting their processing and handling charges.

"We have got the approval of food processing agencies in America, Europe, United Kingdom and also NAFDAC in Nigeria.

We will process yams, potato, casava and other tuber crops and will ensure that no part of crop is wasted. We want to use this to create employment, and also help our farmers export their produce to earn", Okafor said.

The inauguration was attended by various farmers groups across Anambra State, who were excited that their provide would no longer rot away for lack of patronage.

A Director of the company, Dr Esther Okafor described the initiative as novel and commended the chairman for his knack for new discoveries.