Tosett Agro Industries Ltd, a leading industrial firm has seen energy costs fall 70 percent while cutting significant emissions
from its operations, by switching from diesel to gas, the company has said.
Femi Olaoye, the company’s operations head the uninterupted power supply has reduced the frequency of machine breakdown helping to improve customer service.
Challenges involved in sourcing diesel and the high cost of the commodity is forcing industries to switch to gas.
“When you look at the cost of one (1) standard cubic meter of gas versus the equivalent quantity of diesel, you will see that the
difference in savings is massive. Gas is almost 70 per cent less in terms of cost. So, it has saved us a lot of money as energy cost has come down,” Olaoye said.
Clarke Energy, a multinational specialist energy solutions firm, supplied the 5.1 megawatts (MW) gas power plant solution at Tosett Agro Industries Ltd and its sister company JB Farms Ltd.
The supply included design, technical drawings, engines, installation, and commissioning and currently provides equipment
maintenance.
Yiannis Tsantilas, the Managing Director of Clarke Energy in Nigeria, said, “Clarke Energy has demonstrated its expertise in
delivering reliable and durable power solutions to boost profitable agro-industrial processing in Nigeria.
“Its relationship with the leaders at Tosett Agro began before the commissioning of the initial 3.4 megawatts (MW) first phase installation in 2017.
“The expansion was possible because of the extraordinary leadership foresight at Tosett/JB Farms and their strong commitment to serving the expanding domestic demand for oil palm products. At the same time, ensuring food and feedstock security in Nigeria, through backward integration and creating wealth, especially for the farmers.”
Clarke Energy provides predictive and preventive support services as the generators are internet-enabled, allowing remote monitoring
and support, said Olaoye. “If we have issues, we can call them to attend to it, even at odd hours. It is a whole system that has been
built efficiently to ensure that we have consistency and reliability,” he said.
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For over 20 years, JB Farms Ltd has been operating an oil palm plantation, producing both edible palm oil and palm kernel oil.
Tosett, has been handling the industrial value chain side of both companies, producing processed forms of edible palm oil and palm
kernel oil, including bulk soap noodles since 2016.
Both companies were founded by Ajibola Adebutu and are located in Odogbolu Ogun state. JB farms Ltd, however, has plantations in
several other states.
Nigeria has a deficit of about 3 million metric tonnes of edible oils and Tosett, its sister firm JB Farms, like many other companies are
working to fill that gap.
“Before now, many of the oils we consumed were imported and of low quality. But since we came into the field, we have been
producing high-quality international standard oils for local consumption and industrial use,” said Olaoye.
He further said that improved local production of edible oils has reduced the volume of foreign exchange spent on importation,
provides feedstock for companies, and creates employment.
With over 3,000 workers engaged in managing plantations, milling operations, and industrial processes, the company is helping to
reduce Nigeria’s youth unemployment problem. Through taxation, Olaoye said the group is supporting the Federal Government.
“Our engagement with the Federal Government over the last couple of years has been fruitful because they have seen the
contribution we have been making to agricultural development, infrastructure, and the transfer of technical know-how to our youth population,” he said.
Olaoye said JB farms and Tosett Agro Ltd have been at the forefront of providing the Federal Government with a template that
can be replicated across the country in terms of backward integration.
“Right now, about 65 per cent of our current feedstock, comes from our industrial backend. We source the rest within Nigeria and from the West African sub-region. But we are currently working to expand our backend, for example in Ondo state, we are expanding our oil palm plantation.
“My advice to companies that want to get into this field would be to integrate backward, starting from the backend before you build the
industrial frontend,” he said.
