Primlaks Sympli products receive agric minister’s commendation

Minister of agriculture and rural development, Akinwunmi Adesina, has lauded the Primlaks Group for its innovative Sympli brand of convenience food products, which were the star attractions at the recently concluded third edition of the AgrikExpo and FoodBext exhibition in Lagos.

Adesina, who sampled a range of Sympli products that included local delicacies like ‘yam fries,’ ‘yam chunks’ and ‘dodo’ that were exhibited by Venus Processing and Packaging Ltd, a member of the Primlaks Group, commended the organisation for pioneering individually quick frozen (IQF) solutions 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 cut yam, deep freeze it and prepare it with its freshness still intact,” he said.

The minister reiterated government’s commitment to creating an enabling environment to encourage the private sector to take advantage of opportunities in agriculture in Nigeria, saying: “We have a population of 171 million people so 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.”

While commending Primlaks for demonstrating its belief in the potential of this country, he called on more investors to explore prospects of coming to Nigeria.

“Nigeria has a lot of things to share with the world because of her potential to be a global player,” he said, adding that “where would anyone be investing now if not in Nigeria that has become the largest economy in Africa?”

Christopher Tugbobo, chairman, Venus Processing and Packaging Ltd, told the minister that the company invested in Nigeria’s first IQF production facility to stop the wastage of an estimated 40 percent of farm produce in respect of fruits and vegetables because of the absence of proper means of post-harvest storage.

“Our presence at the AgrikExpo 2014 is to further showcase our products to the local market to demonstrate our company’s capacity to offer Nigeria huge revenue saving and earning opportunity as well as encourage more people to embrace made-in-Nigeria foods,” he said.

The Sympli range of convenience foods, which include Nigerian chillies like ‘Atarodo,’ ‘Sombo’ and ‘Tatase’; delicacies like ‘yam fries,’ ‘yam chunks’ and ‘dodo’ and fruits like pineapple, pawpaw and mango were launched in Lagos in December 2013, and showcased at the world’s largest food and beverage fair, ANUGA 2013, in Cologne, Germany.