Makinde inaugurates €25m feed plant in Ibadan

…firm to produce 125,000MTbof extruded fish, feeds

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state has inaugurated a €25m state of the art fish and feed plant facility in Ibadan, Oyo.

The governor during the commissioning said that his administration would continue to provide conducive environment for businesses to strive especially for agricultural development and food security.

Makinde who spoke through Olasunkanmi Olaleye, his commissioner for Agriculture, at the official commissioning of Skretting Nigeria Limited, a state of the art fish and poultry feed plant in Ibadan said the initiative came at the right time when animal feeds especially fish and poultry are becoming extremely costly for farmers to buy for their animals.

Read also: ORÍKÌ Ibadan: A journey towards holistic well-being

“The siting of this plant came at the best time when the need to ensure and guarantee food security and increased production became imperative towards meeting the ever increasing human needs for animal protein in our society.”

“It is known facts that, the demand for fish and seafood have been on the rise globally and Nigeria has not been left out of this trend. Fish and seafood are essential sources of protein and other essential nutrients as they play vital role in promoting food security and economic development.”

The capture fishery sector in Nigeria, he pointed out, has been the major source of fish supply degradation, and declining fish stocks.

“This has led to a shift toward Aquaculture production as an alternative source of fish supply of which Skretting became a major player and partner in the area of extruded fish feed manufacturing at the plant been commissioned.”

While saying that the company has the capacity to produce 125,000 metric tons of feeds, he said, this would go a long way at making feeds available at affordable prices to farmers thereby ameliorating the challenge of high cost of feeds presently experienced by farmers.

He commended the company for the support given to the cluster farmers across the state saying this has tremendously impacted on the production of fish in the state.

“The state government also congratulate the company on the maintenance of the integrity of the fish feed products manufactured since inception as quality, potency and excellent performance are maintained and never at any time compromised.”

“This necessitated the patronage of your products by the state government by purchasing 3,000 bags of fish for 1,000 fish farmers under the state government Sustainable Actions for Economic Recovery (SAfER) across the 33 local government areas to bring down the prices of agricultural products (fish) as a result of fuel subsidy removal by the Federal government.

Seyi Adeleke- Ige, general manager, Skretting Nigeria Limited, subsidiary of Nutreco company of Netherlands said since its inception, the company has actively contributed to the country’s economy by producing feed locally, using locally sourced raw materials.

She said the new feed production facility would further boost the agricultural sector and national GDP and employs 135 staff directly and 150 through third party agency.

Adekeke -Ige who said that the plant worth 25million noted that “we are pleased about the growth of our business in Nigeria, a country with over 218 million people and a rising demand for protein, opening a facility of this magnitude will ensure we can meet both local demand and that of neighbouring West African countries, contributing to the growth of the aquaculture and agricultural sectors of Nigeria and Africa as a whole.”

Read also: Ibadan DisCo disconnects UCH over N400m debt

The new plant, Adeleke-Ige said emphasises the company’s commitment to Nigeria’s aquaculture a d agricultural sectors, which has demostrated through Catfish Sustainability and Hendrix4u community development projects.

The catfish Sustainability project, which has supported fish farmers since 2015, has grown from 50 farmers at its inception to 1,350 farmers presently.

Peter Bastiaanssen, Nutrecos managing director noted that the new plant is committed to producing high-quality, affordable feeds and concentrates, specifically tailored to meet the diverse needs of the Nigerian Market.

” From extruded fish feed to poultry feed, we are fully equipped not only with advanced products but also with experts on ground, ready to help farmers enhance production efficiency.”

“This investment underscores our dedication to our purpose of feeding the future, helping us improve food production efficiency a d superior nutrition accessible to everyone in the region.”