BY Olapeju Olubi
With the sky-high level of food prices in Nigeria and the concomitant economic disruptions, Olam Agri in Nigeria, an agribusiness in food, feed and fibre company, has reaffirmed its commitment to helping Nigeria achieve food security.
The company made the pledge during a recent meeting with the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun.
The meeting, which is part of the agribusiness strategic engagements with critical stakeholders, had in attendance the Managing Director of Olam Agri in Nigeria, Anil Nair, the Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacchaeus Adedeji, the Accountant General of the Federation Oluwatoyin Sakirat Madein, and the Director Corporate & Regulatory Affairs Olam Agri, Ade Adefeko.
The latest engagement came on the heels of a courtesy visit to the Vice President of the Federation, Sen. Kashim Shettima (GCON), and a tour of the agribusiness rice farm and mill by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari.
Speaking during the meeting, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, implored Olam Agri to leverage its impressive scale with presence in the Rice, Sesame, Animal and Fish Feed, Wheat Milling value chains as well as biscuits confectionery and culinary product manufacturing.
He spoke on government reforms to curb inflation, particularly food inflation, and called on the agribusiness to continue deploying its scale, global expertise, and deep resources to engender wider access to quality food and nutrition to the teeming population in a bid to achieve food security.
In response, the Managing Director of Olam Agri in Nigeria, Anil Nair, said, “Our commitment to driving food security is evidenced by the sprawling investments we keep making to raise productivity in the rice, animal feed and protein, wheat and flour milling, sesame, and edible oils value chains.
“We consistently scale this investment as well, as we expand involvement in various out-grower programmes, research & development, partnerships, collaborations, and the integration of smallholder farmers into various empowerment initiatives for the betterment of Nigeria.
“We do realise that deepening partnership and collaboration with other stakeholders in the economy is crucial to maintaining and sustaining the government’s food security agenda. We are fully aligned with the ongoing fiscal reforms of government and only seek support for an enabling policy framework, and regulatory environment that will not only enable us play our part but stimulate the development of the agricultural value chain,” he added.
