Chief Executive Officer of Majestic Farms And Food Processing Co., Ltd, Al Humphrey Onyanabo, has hailed the recent presidential order banning the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from selling foreign exchange to importers of food.
In a recent media parley with reporters in Lagos, Mr. Onyanabo said the order was bold and commendable with favorable, far reaching consequences for the Nigerian economy,
‘Nigeria has become the dumping ground for all manner of ridiculous food products from all over the world. People now set up production facilities overseas targeting the Nigerian market and in six months they will recover their investment and turn a healthy profit,’ the entrepreneur said.
He revealed that Nigerians imported such finished products as chilli pepper, ginger powder, turmeric, garlic and cinnamon all of which are grown abundantly in Nigeria but without adequate processing, packaging and storage know how. Most of these spices he said go out of Nigeria as raw materials and come back as finished products costing ten times more.
He added, ‘I am pushing for a total ban of most of these food products. All Nigerian companies need is to buy patents and see transfer of technology. Our economy bleeds daily because of these frivolous food imports that would rather provide jobs locally for our people’.
Mr. Al Humphrey Onyanabo further revealed that his company Majestic Farmsis encouraged to upwardly review its massive agricultural investment and industrial development plan because of the favorable policies of the Buhari administration.
‘Nigeria needs to take a quantum leap in food production to provide food security for our people. What MAJESTIC Farms brings to the table is a comprehensive agricultural investment initiative that will prosper our various stakeholders and Nigeria exponentially’.
Mr. Al Humphrey Onyanabo believes Nigeria needs to make a quantum leap into food production in order to provide food security for it’s over 200 million plus population.
“Majestic Farms and Food Processing Co ltd in tandem with its funding partners is concluding plans and will soon start ground breaking on our integrated state of the art farms that comprise the following; a 20 million capacity broiler section in four regions, a one million capacity broiler farm in four regions, 300,000 capacity turkey farm, 250,000 capacity duck farm, 100,000 capacity cow ranch and dairy, 200,000 pig farm in two regions, combined 5,000 metric tons a year out door fish and shrimp section, a 200,000 capacity rabbit farm, 500 acre orchid to grow organic apples, grapes, banana, pineapples, mangoes. We will also build 10,000 metric tons inert grain silos in four regions to enhance food storage and reduce wastage. Our start off states are Rivers, Lagos, Ogun, Oyo and Delta states gradually we will spread’.
He added, ‘We are also setting up Majestic Farm Shops in every local government area, where we will sell Majestic branded home grown foods such as tomato paste, tea, coffee, cereals, infant formula, puffy snacks, rice, garri, poundo yam, elubo, tuwo, spices, cereals, pasta, vegetable oil, juices, tomato paste, sweet corn, baked beans with our own farm grown fish, beef, chicken and snails…we will cultivate, process, bottle, bag and can a vast array of Nigerian foods, fruits, spices, beverages and drinks.
‘Believe me, I have traversed this great country, I am amazed at just how amazingly blessed we are as a people, we have diverse crops; gold literarily grows in Nigeria. We have rich fertile soil. It’s a sin for us to import coated peanuts and roasted cashew nuts amongst others. We are so blessed, and we must harness everything that is produced to make Nigeria really great’.
Apart from its own mechanized farms which will be scattered all over the country, Mr Onyanabo says Majestic Farms and Food Processing Co. Ltd will also partner strategically with millions of small holder farmers,
‘We will supply them with seedlings, fertilizers, implements, pesticides and harvesters and most importantly cash to tide them through till harvest time. We will buy back their harvest at agreeable market prices. The time when middle men exploit farmers is over. Small holder farmers and their families will have access to personal loans when they sign on to our scheme’
Mr. Onyanabo was full of praise for Mr Seyi Makinde and Mr. Dapo Abiodun Governors of Oyo and Ogun State for their appreciation and investment in agriculture through their investment in small holder farmers.
‘It’s a wonderful initiative they have embarked upon and I commend the sincerity in their approach and implementation of the schemes. We shall compliment their efforts by investing massively in setting up large processing and storage facilities’.
Majestic Farms he also said has secured foreign technical partners in various areas of its operations to bring it at par with world best practices
He added, ‘To strengthen our knowledge base, we are also going to collaborate with our agricultural research institutes such as NIFOR, NSPRI, IITA,IAR and T, National Root Crop Research Institute, they have information that we will need to enhance our crop yield, processing, storage and production. We also look forward to working with Alhaji Mohammed Sabo Nanono, the new minister for Agriculture’
Nigeria, Mr. Onyanabo revealed is at the threshold of a gigantic agricultural and industrial development that is unprecedented in Africa.
‘We realize that pivotal to our success will be access to adequate machinery and its maintenance. Our policy is to initially import processing machines and have our home grown engineers study, improve and expand on their production capacity. We will have our own fabrication facilities which can be accessed by other small scale business owners as well’.
