US, Nigerian Soybean stakeholders meet to strengthen value-chain

The United States Soybean Export Council (USSEC) has held a meeting in Lagos, with stakeholders in the Nigerian soybean industry, agribusiness experts, importers, and executives of local soybean processing and milling companies, to discuss strategies in enhancing Nigeria’s soybean value chain.

The United States and Nigeria have a long-standing relationship in the agricultural sector, and Gerald Smith, Counsellor for Agricultural Affairs at the U.S. Mission to Nigeria, noted that the American Foreign Agricultural Service is dedicated to enhancing collaborations to help Nigeria’s agribusiness industry achieve the country’s vision for nutrition and food safety.

“Our partnership to improve Nigeria’s soybean value chain is mutual and a win-win for the United States and Nigeria, especially as regards increase in production and ensuring that quality products are produced to meet demand,” Smith said. The Nigeria Soy Excellence Center supports Nigeria’s soybean value chain by boosting the capacity of Nigerian enterprises in the soy-protein value chain, he added.

Doug Winter, USSEC Chairman reaffirmed the council’s commitment to helping local initiatives to improve Nigerians’ access to healthy and nutritional food.

Read also: AFEX expands operations in Kenya to boost food security

USSEC is a non-profit US trade group representing US soybean producers, processors, commodity shippers, merchandisers, allied agribusinesses, and agricultural organizations. The group’s main goal is building preference, improving the value, and enabling market access for the use of U.S. Soy for human consumption, aquaculture, and livestock feed in 82 countries across the world.

Ayo Oduntan, founder and director, Amo Byng Nigeria Limited, a poultry feeds and concentrate-producing company, commended USSEC’s partnership with local agribusiness experts and its commitment to supporting sustainable solutions to achieving food security in Nigeria.

“This meeting reinforces the fact that we need each other to grow. Through our partnership, we can build a Nigeria, where we can enable nutrition and food security for families and communities in Nigeria,” Oduntan said.

The meeting provided an opportunity for U.S. agribusiness experts and their Nigerian counterparts to explore possible areas of collaboration in training and capacity-building programs to meet increased protein demand.