May 22, 2015 : Anna Okon
Mr. Babatunde Fashola
The
Candel Company Limited, Nigeria’s leading agricultural inputs
development and distribution company, has announced that its integrated
manufacturing facility for crop protection chemicals and foliar
fertilizers at the Lekki Free Zone, Lagos, will be inaugurated by the
Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola.
The multi-billion naira project, which
is only in its first phase when completed, will deliver a facility with
capacity for 80 million litres of formulated products per annum, a
statement from the company said.
It said it would enable Candel to deliver solutions most suited to Nigeria’s tropical climate and peculiar farming systems.
According to the statement, there is
currently no local production of crop protection agrochemicals in
Nigeria with over $400 million in foreign exchange expended annually to
import them.
It adds that crop protection chemicals
protect crops from weeds, pests and diseases when in the field, during
haulage and in the store and help the quest for increased crop yields
and better preservation by Nigerian farmers.
Candel’s factory, according to the
company, is configured to produce products specially targeted at small
scale farmers as well as customised formulations with different
surfactant levels for large scale farmers.
It adds that the facility has five
process plants for soluble liquids, emulsifiable concentrates and
suspension concentrates of products from diverse chemical families. It
also has sufficient capacity to supply Candel’s own distribution network
in Nigeria and Ghana with enough spare capacity for third parties in
Nigeria and overseas.
The company said the target of the international market influenced its location at the Lekki Free Zone.
The construction of the production
facility was said to have begun in early 2014 after an extensive
Environmental Impact Assessment exercise under the full supervision and
guidance of the federal and Lagos State ministries of environment.
The statement quoted the chairman of the
Candel Company, Charles Anudu, as underlining the company’s innovative
and entrepreneurial spirit as well as the many years of experience in
the field of crop protection.
He said, “Our company has a reputation
for being at the leading edge of innovation and entrepreneurship that
have helped to frame our industry in the context of the local realities.
“Our world-class factory is geared
towards tailor-made solutions that address the peculiarities of our
farming systems thereby improving the industry economics and
competitiveness of West Africa’s crop farmers.”
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