Agriculture
THE Food, Beverages and Tobacco Sectoral Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) on Thursday urged the Federal Government to address challenges obstructing the growth of the food industry.
The Chairman of the Group, Mr Paul Gbededo, made the call in Lagos on Thursday during the group’s 2019 annual general meeting.
The event had the theme: “An Overview of the Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX) in Nigeria vis-a-vis the Food, Beverages and Tobacco Industry in Nigeria”.
Gbededo said that proffering solutions to the challenges was necessary to ensure steady availability of food.
He noted that food was important and had one of the highest investments in the manufacturing sector.
According to him, food industry in any economy is one of the catalysts needed for the development of such nation, as it feeds its citizens who will build production, investment, employment and infrastructure needs of the country.
Gbededo listed multiple taxation and levies, misalignment of Value Added Tax (VAT), unlawful interception of members’ containers and high excise duty on local products as some of the challenges militating against the development of the industry.
According to him, the others include upsurge of cheaper and low-quality imported food products, illegal evasion of duty by traders and adulteration of locally manufactured products.
“Development of the food sector has been one of the essential ingredients in the growth strategy of a country.
“Aside its estimated contribution in terms of tax and VAT, the industry can also be rated as one of the noticeable contributors to job creation in the economy.
“As a result, there is need for strict vigilance, awareness creation and proactive enforcement of laws on foods, food safety and best international manufacturing practices by the regulatory agencies.
“There is also need for identification of major outlets for distribution of contraband products by the regulatory agencies, while such outlets should be sealed,’’ he said.
While commending the Federal Government for efforts to improve local sourcing of raw materials through the establishment of NCX, Gbededo urged state and local governments to embrace patronage of made-in-Nigeria products.
Mrs Zaheera Ari, Director-General, NCX, gave assurance of the readiness of the exchange to collaborate with food manufacturers in providing raw materials to enhance food production and the development of the industry.
Ari, a guest speaker at the meeting, said that the exchange had the capacity to meet the demands of Nigeria’s manufacturing sector for the supply of agro commodity raw materials as it traded on standardized contracts.
“The warehouse receipt system that supports trading on the exchange is a good instrument that assures year-round availability of graded agro commodity.
“This can be leveraged by the food, beverages and tobacco industry for efficient and cost saving material procurement.
“The exchange will work with the Federal Ministry of Finance on giving incentives such as excise tax rebate and export duty rebate to agro processing companies and exporters that will buy their raw materials and export commodities on the NCX,” Ari said.
-NAN
BE
JULY 25, 2019 16:20 GMT
Tags: Address challenges to food industry growth MAN urges FG
