Agriculture
A leading livestock feeds miller, Mr Austin Dalyop, has said that the border closure provided an opportunity for Nigerians to invest in the agricultural value chain.
Dalyop, General Manager, TOPFEEDS, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday that “this is the best time to invest in agric value chain following the gains recorded during the closure.”
He said that the country had the capacity – land, water, human capital and resources – to be self-sufficient in agric value chain.
Dalyop urged investors to explore the positive development provided by the closure to invest in the sector.
He said the country needed to develop all agricultural property to sustain food production.
“In the past, we used to have a lot of frozen chicken, turkey and fish imported into this country of which we have the capacity to produce.
“We have the land, water, people and all the resources. So this is the time, I like to invite Nigerians, those who have money to invest in agriculture.
“Agriculture is our oil and that is the oil that is sustainable, not petroleum. We need to invest in agriculture and this is the time,” he said.
He said the country needed to invest in production of rice, maize, soya, beans and cassava to meet the demand.
“We need to expand all agricultural property, that is the only thing that can sustain this country,” he said.
He urged farmers to re-organise themselves, come back strong into the industry and stock more.
“Because there is going to be shortage of broilers and eggs, so we need to produce more. The shortage is in relation to the ban,” he said.
Speaking of availability of feed for the poultry value chain, the general manager said the company had capacity to produce enough feed for poultry farmers.
He said the closure was sweet and sour; sweet for farmers and sour for those who depend on imported items.
“We have enough capacity in this country to produce enough feed for our farmers and we are also building capacity yearly.
“We don’t have a problem, in the last two years, we have been 100 per cent local sourcing except our micro ingredient that we import through the Nigerias Ports Authority.
“But our maize, soya beans and other ingredients, we source them within the country.
” The ban has no effect on us. it is positive and we pray that the government keep this ban forever,” he said.
NAN
– Nov. 26, 2019 @ 18:35 GMT |
Tags: an opportunity to invest in agric value chain — Livestock feed producer Border closure
