FMN harps on value chain for food production, security

Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc (FMN) has announced activities to commemorate its 60-years of creating innovative and sustainable value in agriculture and food production.

It said a rich leadership and value-chain in the food industry through a legacy of impactful investments, job creation, community development, and economic growth are qualities that would help deepen agriculture economic diversification of the country.

With its “farm-to-table” model in agriculture, by providing inputs and know-how to farmers, aggregating and sourcing crops and raw materials to supply its world-class processing facilities across Nigeria, and distributing its innovative food brands to its customers, FMN said creating value along the entire food chain had shown that secondary and tertiary stages of agriculture are paramount to farmers’ productivity, crop industrialization and attendant benefits of employment opportunities, the sustainability of income and agribusiness profitability.

The firm said through its agro-allied investments, agriculture has remained a strong success story for 60 years in the country, and still has inestimable potential to transform the agro-industrial landscape as long as enabling environment is made available for the private sector participation.

“This year marks an important milestone for Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc as we commemorate 60 great years of enriching lives and empowering communities. Exactly sixty years ago, FMN was born through the vision and dedication of our founding father, George Stavros Coumantaros, to create a winning brand that would one day become a household name in Nigeria. Since then, FMN and the iconic Golden Penny food brand has truly evolved … a trusted source of nutrition for millions of Nigerian families.

The COVID-19 pandemic, the firm said, had made it clear that developing agriculture for food security and socio-economic growth is inevitable, knowing that the country has great resilience and potential to feed not only itself but also the whole of West Africa and beyond with good agricultural practices, value addition and conducive environment.

“The socio-economic impact caused by the pandemic has emphasised the true value of our commitment to our nation and customers.

“This is evident in our drive to mitigate the effects of the pandemic through food support donations to vulnerable Nigerians. Also, in helping to redefine the role of the private sector, FMN in the wake of the pandemic exhibited its leadership position by keying into its global supply network to donate critical medical supplies at a time when the world was experiencing a widespread shortage of critical medical supplies,” the company stated.