The Director/C.E.O of Olam in Africa and Middle East, Mr. Venkataramani Srivathsan, said they are partnering with IITA in Ibadan to produce high-yielding soybean seeds.
He said although Nigeria was of the largest producers of soybean, its 500,000 metric tonnes of soybean was very small and was in short supply to feed producing companies; the reason being that before now there was limited incentive to grow soybean and inadequate market liquidity.
Mr. Srivathsan said the aim of the partnership is to increase soybean production in Nigeria from 500,000 metric tonnes to 2,000,000 in five to seven years.
He added that as from next year, they will be offering soybean seeds to farmers to boost their production and that his company currently owns 220 hectares used for trial soybean seed.
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According to Srivathsan, in Kwara State, the new fish feed manufacturing facility is expected to boost supply to help meet rising demand for fish.
This supply is in excess of two million metrics yearly. He said that fish farming was crucial to bridging the gap created by the high supply and that it can further rake in the excess of $1billion.
The company will also be sourcing raw materials from more than 300,000 Nigerian farmers and they were working towards identifying NGO’s, private sector partners and government institutions who would help develop agronomy programmes, farmer support, and training.
