PRIMLAKS promotes ‘made-in-Nigeria’ food at Agrikexpo

 

PRIMLAKS Group, pioneer of Individually Quick Frozen (IQF) fruits and vegetables in Nigeria, has demonstrated its steadfast support of agriculture in Nigeria by exhibiting its innovative Sympli brand of convenience food at the 2015 Foodbext West Africa exhibition in Lagos.

Sympli is the registered brand name of a range of IQF foods produced by Venus Processing and Packaging Limited (VPPL), part of the PRIMLAKS Group.

The locally farmed, processed and packed Sympli products, which include ‘Yam Fries,’ ‘Yam Cubes,’ Plantain ‘Dodo’ and Plantain Chips are delivered in ready-to-cook state for frying, steaming or baking.

Christopher Tugbobo, chairman of VPPL, said: “I am very happy to be a part of this venture because Sympli proves that Nigeria is capable of doing new things in agriculture that can help reduce our dependence on oil and gas.”

Tugbobo, a one-time head of the division of agricultural research in the Federal Ministry of Economic Development, described Sympli as a 100 percent Nigerian product, saying, “Sympli is produced 100 percent locally by Nigerians for Nigerians and this gives me hope as it creates much needed employment, helps reduce post-harvest losses and gives Nigerians a home grown brand in the frozen food segment that we can all be proud of.”

1. K. Ram, group chairman of PRIMLAKS, explained that PRIMLAKS invested in Nigeria’s first IQF production facility in order to tap into the country’s vast agricultural potential, particularly in light of growing concerns on unemployment and dwindling foreign exchange reserves.

He described Sympli as PRIMLAKS Group’s contribution to Nigeria’s drive for self-sufficiency in value added food production and creation of additional sources of foreign exchange.

“I arrived in Nigeria in 1957 and started PRIMLAKS with a view to manufacturing locally. Our company has always been a strong supporter of Nigeria and our family continues here in its third generation.

“We have plans to expand our investments in the real sector, as we have done for decades, particularly now that the country needs a boost to agricultural production and capacity building for exports. It is time that the world gets to taste Nigerian food as we in Nigeria have come to experience foods from other countries,” he said.

At last year’s edition of Agrikexpo, Akinwunmi Adesina, former minister of agriculture and rural development, after sampling the range of Sympli products that were a star attraction at the exhibition, lauded the PRIMLAKS Group for its innovation in pioneering IQF fruits and vegetables in Nigeria.

“I have always said that one of the reasons our yam production does not boom is because we eat yam in the same old ways as our forefathers; Sympli has shown that we can process yam, quick freeze it and prepare it with its freshness still intact.

“Our people should be proud of our products and eat our products because we are the market for all our farmers’ products, and when we eat what we produce, we entrench inclusive growth,” he said.