… Fairtrade to host agrofood, plastprintpack exhibition

By Jimoh Babatunde

The Federal Government has been advised to focus more on the agriculture value chain to generate a greater flow of foreign exchange.

The President of the Organisation for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa (OTACCWA), Alexander Isiong, gave the advice ahead of this year’s edition of the Nigeria Agrofood and Plastoprint Pack conference, billed for Lagos in March.

Isiong said the conference can improve the country’s agriculture, adding that to add value to the country’s produce, farmers should be able to add value.

“To add value, you should be able to process what you produce and in processing it, you need to be able to carry it into a cold chain environment. What the cold chain environment does is for the safety and food standard. Apart from even creating food for Nigeria, what we are trying to do on the ecosystem is to make Nigeria to be able to export produce.

“The reason for the increase in the dollar is that Nigeria spends more than it earns internationally. The only place that we get foreign exchange now is through crude oil and fossil fuels.

“The only avenue the Federal Government can make money from is to create foreign inflow through agriculture, and you can do that by getting certification for farms, to get certification for the process of taking the food from the farm up to the airport for it to go out of the country.

“The reason why Nigeria cannot benefit from all this is because all Nigerian products are not certified outside the country, so we cannot export. What we are doing in OTACCWA is sensitizing the government to the fact that they are actually losing a lot of money by not keying into what cold chain is all about,” he said.

Speaking on the upcoming conference, Senior Project Manager at Fairtrade Messe, Freyja Detjen, said with an unwavering commitment to excellence, every aspect of the event has been meticulously enhanced to deliver an unparalleled experience, surpassing previous benchmarks.

“The organizers are proud to announce the elevated standards set for the upcoming 9th edition. The 9th agrofood & plastprintpack Nigeria, for the very first time, expands into three halls, solidifying its position as the largest gathering yet.

Quoting technology investment figures,VDMA 2023, Detjen explained that with investments in food & packaging technology amounting to €363m in 2022, Nigeria stands as Africa’s second-largest investor, trailing only South Africa with €381m and leading Egypt with €319m. (VDMA 2023).

“Nigeria’s food production has witnessed a remarkable surge of 39.6% in recent years, from €26bn in 2016 to €36.3bn in 2020, projected to rise by 48% between 2021 and 2024, from €42.3bn to €62.6bn. (Euromonitor International).

Detjen noted that despite significant investments in local food production, Nigeria’s food imports totaled US$6.9bn in 2022 (WTO), positioning the nation as one of Africa’s foremost food importers.

She added that with €143m in 2022, Nigeria emerges as the second-largest investor in plastics technology in Africa, showcasing an annual growth rate of 17.6% between 2016 and 2022.

It is against this background that the Agrofood and Plastprintpack Exhibition & Conference provides a networking opportunity for international and local industry players.

“Over a hundred world-class exhibitors from Austria, Bulgaria, China, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Tunisia, Türkiye, and Ukraine, showcase tailored products and solutions for the Nigerian market.”