NIGERIA – Agri-food company Tingo Foods, a subsidiary of the Tingo International Holding Inc group, has announced the beginning of a US$1.6 billion agri-food processing unit construction in Onicha-Ugbo in Delta State.

What will the plant produce ?

The construction work on the new plant which has started today is scheduled to take a period of 18 to 24 months. Once operational, the multi-billion state-of-the-art facility will initially produce a range of products including rice, tea, coffee, chocolate, biscuits, edible oil, cashew milk, millet-based cereal, beer, mineral water, fizzy drinks, pasta, and noodles. Additionally, it will also serve as a center for the development and distribution of new food products for both the local market and for export.

Advantages for Nigeria.

According to the officials of the project, the facility operations will save Africa from paying foreign exchange to import finished food products and strengthen the export of made-in-Africa foods to the world. It will also enhance inter-Africa trade via the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement and sell high-quality and nutritious food products in Nigeria. Founder of Tingo International Holdings, Dozy Mmobuosi, stated that the facility is the first phase of a multi-billion-dollar investment that Tingo International Holdings plans to make in the African food industry.

This factory will facilitate the export of food products made in Africa to the whole world, strengthen inter-African trade through the African Continental Free Trade Agreement and allow the sale of nutritious and high-quality food products in Nigeria, said Mr. Mmobuosi. In recent years, the African food industry has struggled with a lack of productivity and poor usage of human capital.

Tingo Foods CEO:Mr. Mmobuosi Photo credits: https://www.legit.ng/

Tingo foods to impact Nigeria

However, Tingo Foods aims to change that by creating 12,000 direct jobs, providing a significant boost to the Nigerian economy, and contributing to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs aim to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure peace and prosperity for all. In Nigeria, the agribusiness industry accounts for about 65% of manufacturing sector revenue and contributes 7% to GDP according to USDA data. In the recent, 2022 Annual Trends and Outlook Report (ATOR), the authors pointed out that Africa must accelerate its transition from mainly producing and exporting raw materials and importing processed foods to develop a thriving and competitive agro-processing sector that delivers on the African Union’s Agenda 2063 targets of economic growth, wealth generation, and employment.

While it appears that African markets provide more attractive destinations for locally processed products than unprocessed products, the report notes that much-untapped potential remains for local producers and processors to reach expanding urban markets. In the same report, the authors estimate that 72% of all agricultural products traded within the continent have undergone a partial or total transformation, a jump compared to the period 2003-2005 (63%).

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) showed the largest share of processed and semi-processed intra-African exports in 2018–2020, as well as the largest increase in the share of processed exports between the two periods.

Credits: https://www.foodbusinessafrica.com