Nigeria’s quest to raise the contribution of its non-oil exports to positively impact the economy has received a major boost, as the Nigerian Commodities Exchange Commission (NCX) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Harvestfield Industries Limited on processing and exporting of agro commodities.
Harvestfield is one of the leading agro-chemical companies in the country, which aims to become the major driver of agro-chemical, bio-control agents, spraying equipment, seed and public health business in Nigeria.
During the signing ceremony, held at the company’s Hil factory, Mowe, Ogun State, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Harvestfield, Mr. Martins Awofisayo, said the partnership is aimed towards the establishment of export designation centre in collaboration with NCX for Sorghum, millet, ginger, sesame, among others.
“Harvestfield has what it takes, we have 27 warehouses across the country. We have invested N700m into this project and it is time for us to collaborate with the NCX, to bring this to fruition. Our plan is to have export-processing zone, to export agro commodities.
“We can process sorghum, groundnut, sesame and other agro commodities, we have been doing this before though in a small way, now we want to have it big. We have been assisting majority of the exporters in getting quality outputs. We have also helped many to increase their production yield. We have commenced with the recent exportation of 10 containers to the United Kingdom.”
The Interim Coordinator of NCX, Elenwor Ihua, who described non-oil as the future of Nigeria, said agriculture is one of the non-oil exports, adding that one of the programmes of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is the race to $200b non-oil exports.
While commending the company’s efforts at making the factory a one-stop shop for export, which he described as an impressive vision, Ihua, said when the NCX sees what the Harvestfield is doing, it will be a lead voice to join hands together with them to excel.
Said he: “What we think this partnership will achieve is to bring ultra modern storage infrastructure that will be a model in the country. 30 per cent of our agro commodities are lost to post-harvest challenges, mainly caused by lack of storage facilities.
“Nigeria has a huge potential, but we are still struggling to see them. One of the problems faced in exporting is dearth of testing infrastructure for agro commodities. What the NCX is doing currently is the push for sales of commodities through us, to ensure quality of the produce we are exporting. Be rest assured that you have a partner in us.”
