Federal Government’s commitment to diversify Nigeria’s revenue stream and boosting of economic growth might be paying off as the largest and most modern Sorghum malting plants in Africa, Food, Agro, & Allied Industries Limited has expanded its exportation footprint to New Zealand with its made in Nigeria Malt extracts.
Sona Group’s Chairman, Arjan Mirchandani said Food, Agro & Allied Industries Limited is committed to ensuring that made in Nigeria products made by the company are of international standard and made available outside the shores of the country.
“Our job is to make sure that we use and make 100 percent local content. This exportation to New Zealand is the first of Food, Agro & Allied Industries as we intend to continue to produce Made in Nigeria products for exportation. Very soon we will be introducing rice flour and corn production that will be exported as well.
“We are encouraged by government agencies to produce standard and quality products.”
The Ogun State Coordinator of Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON), Engineer Ayuba Samuel Ushe who was represented by Michael Ajagbonna, said that the exportation footprint of Sona Group is a plus for the country at large.
According to him, the country is turning around in respect to quality in terms of global dynamism. Ushe said the exportation footprint will serve as a foreign investment for Nigeria because people will start to have confidence in what the country has and at the same time, foreign currency exchange will improve.
In view of what Sona Group has produced over time, the SON’s State Coordinator expressed that the body has confidence in the group. Ushe further stated that Sona Group’s products have always met the required standards of his organisation.
The Managing Director of Food, Agro & Allied Industries, KVS Murthy submitted that the products ready for export are 100 percent local sorghum and are proudly produced in Nigeria.
“As at 2015, we produced sorghum, glucose syrup, malt syrup, malt extract locally. Our requirement for the year as of now is 20,000 to 25,000 tonnes and we receive the Sorghum from Northern part of Nigeria such as Kano, Kaduna, Zaria etc., we store it in our warehouses, our silos and we are using the material time to time. It is completely automated, the material to the finishing product to the drum”.
The company is a subsidiary of Sona Group, a manufacturing company. Sona Group is one of Nigeria’s fastest growing Groups. The Group has interest in diversified sectors such as Food Processing & Malting, Biscuits & Confectionary, Beverages, Power Generation, Industrial Gases, Plastic Pallets, Tables & Chairs, Jerry Cans, Drums, Self-Adhesive Labels, Flexible Packaging, MonoCartons, Barrier Films and corrugated cartons to name a few. New investments, modern technology, state-of-art machines and modern management techniques are helping in driving the business.
