Nigeria’s food production will rise by 48 per cent to €62.6bn between 2021 and 2024, according to Fairtrade and OTACCWA.
In a statement, Fairtrade and OTACCWA, organisers of the Nigeria Agrofood and Plastprintpack trade show, disclosed that the country’s food production had improved by 39.6 per cent from €26bn in 2016 to €36.3bn in 2020.
Senior Project Manager at Fairtrade, Freyja Detjen, noted that with investments in food and packaging technology amounting to €363m in 2022, Nigeria stood as Africa’s second-largest investor, trailing only South Africa with €381m and leading Egypt with €319m.
She said, “Nigeria’s food production has witnessed a remarkable surge of 39.6 per cent in recent years, from €26bn in 2016 to €36.3bn in 2020, projected to rise by 48 per cent between 2021 and 2024, from €42.3bn to €62.6bn.
“Despite significant investments in local food production, Nigeria’s food imports totalled
US$6.9bn in 2022, positioning the nation as one of Africa’s foremost food importers.
“With €143m in 2022, Nigeria emerges as the second-largest investor in plastics technology in Africa, showcasing an annual growth rate of 17.6 per cent between 2016 and 2022.”
According to a report by the Food and Agricultural Organisation, Nigeria has 70.8 million hectares of agricultural land area with maize, cassava, guinea corn, yam beans, millet and rice being the major crops.
The report said that despite the contribution of agriculture to the economy, Nigeria’s agricultural sector faces many challenges which impact its productivity. These include: poor land tenure systems, low levels of irrigation farming, climate change and land degradation. Others are low technology, high production cost and poor distribution of inputs, limited financing, high post-harvest losses and poor access to markets.
Meanwhile, following the fruitful collaboration since the 2021 event, Fairtrade and OTACCWA, the Organisation for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa, said they would co-organise the 6th West African Cold Chain Summit and Exhibition by OTACCWA alongside Agrofood and Plastprintpack Nigeria 2024.
It will feature the 3rd Annual MFI Awards and the Millers for Nutrition Country Launch – powered by TechnoServe via a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-sponsored initiative – the Millers for Nutrition Coalition – M4N.
The organizers added that several Nigerian ministers and members of the Dangote family and the Dangote Foundation would present the awards to the CEOs of the top five brands in the wheat flour, edible oil, and sugar industries.
Also on the menu is a top-level three-day conference with 20+ sessions and 70+ speakers. Bureau Veritas, a company which specialises in testing, inspection and certification services, is the Registration Sponsor of the event.
Detjen said over a hundred world-class exhibitors from Austria, Bulgaria, China, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Tunisia, Türkiye, and Ukraine, will showcase tailored products and solutions for the Nigerian market.
