Raedial Farms Limited, a subsidiary of Raedial Holdings, has signed a partnership agreement with Compagnie Fruitere, a French company that markets over 900,000 tons of fruits and vegetables across the European markets.
The signing ceremony which took place at the 2023 French Week business summit in Lagos, was witnessed by prominent persons in the Nigerian and French governments.
Some of them include Olivier Becht, French minister delegate for foreign trade, economic attractiveness and French nationals abroad, Herbert Wigwe, president of the France-Nigeria business council & CEO at Access Bank, Usman Mohammed, president of the Franco-Nigerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms.
“It drew together an impressive array of key figures in both countries in a bid to deepen the business and economic interests between the two nations especially since Nigeria accounts for about 20 percent of France’s trade with sub-Saharan Africa, amounting to an estimate of €3.53 billion,” the statement said.
It said that the partnership will help the Raedial Farms diversify its operations from solely oil palm full-fledged farming activities spread over more than 2,500 hectares of land and livestock products to the production of fruits for exportation.
“The operation will include planting, cultivating, harvesting, processing, distribution and exportation of pineapples and bananas.”
Read also: Raedial Farms set to bridge Nigeria’s oil palm gap with expansion
According to the company, the partnership will see both companies synergise to benefit from each other’s strengths in the technical, procurement, marketing, production, and distribution aspects of agriculture.
“The collaboration also aims for an improved cultivation technique, product quality, sustainability practices and operational efficiency of both companies.”
Uwadiale Agenmonmen, managing director at Raedial Farms noted that it further exemplifies its dedication to contributing to the growth of the France-Nigeria Agricultural relationship and shows the pivotal role largescale farming plays in the Agric sector.
Nigeria is a country with massive financial potential, especially following the current government’s pledge to open up its economy to others in a bid to grow the Gross Domestic Product, said Didier Mas, technical director for Africa at Compagnie Fruitere.
Several entrepreneurs in Africa have recognised the opportunity to commercialise and formalise traditional food items.
Read also: Raedial Holdings kicks off operations in Lagos
For example, Chichi Eriobu, the founder and CEO of Phronesis Foods, identified a market gap for producing packaged African breadfruit products, catering to consumers in Nigeria and beyond. African breadfruit, locally referred to as ukwa in the Igbo language, is an edible fruit predominantly cultivated and consumed in southeastern Nigeria. The seeds of this fruit are particularly prized for their high nutritional value. At present, Phronesis Foods offers a lineup of four ukwa products, including dried ukwa, roasted ukwa snacks, ukwa poundo, and ukwa flour.
In 2012, Affiong Williams, after a 12-year residence in South Africa, returned to Nigeria to explore the potential for dried fruit snacks in the local market. Using fruit imported from South Africa, she packaged samples and distributed them to prospective customers.
At that time, this snack category was relatively uncharted in Nigeria, with no other local producers manufacturing it on a large scale. Despite an initial set of challenges, the ReelFruit brand has found success and is now distributed in hundreds of stores, as well as in a few export markets.
In 2021, ReelFruit secured $3 million in Series A funding, earmarked for the construction of new processing facilities and for expanding sales into the US and other global markets.
