Nestle Partners Farmers to Boost Commercial Farming
AllAfrica -- September 3, 2012 -- Nestle Nigeria Plc says it will partner with farmers in the country as part of efforts to boost commercial agriculture through empowerment.Mr. Adewale Arikawe, the Category Business Manager of the company, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Lagos.
Arikawe said that empowering the Nigerian farmers to engage in commercial agriculture would discourage subsistence farming.
He advised that big companies should engage farmers in the "production of local grains and cassava."
The manager said that a platform should be created that would accommodate subsistence farmers, with a view to growing their economy.
Arikawe also identified empowerment in agricultural practice as a key to the development of the sector.
He said: "We are creating shared value. It's a platform where we engage peasant farmers, over 4,000 farmers out there, in villages. We engage them, to help them through some knowledge, to be able to improve the quality of their grains so that when they want to consume for themselves, they are sure that they are consuming quality grains for themselves and their family.
"And when they are able to move to a level where they can produce quality grains for commercial purpose, sell to manufacturers like Nestle, that has been involved in manufacturing of cereal, they will be sure supplying quality grains to such companies. That will help them to improve their economic powers and also be able to take care of their families.
"So, it's actually a synergy. It's a way of assisting the farmers to improve the quality of their grains, for consumption and also have quality grains to sell to manufacturers. Like we said earlier, this product is 100 per cent from maize, quality maize from these farmers as well as soya grains. So the product is 100 per cent Nigerian, it's a proudly Nigerian product."
He said Nestle had embarked on Grains Quality Improvement Project to produce high quality grains for the processing of its range of products.
Copyright Daily Trust. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
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