Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc has declared that it is trying to help Nigeria attain self-sufficiency in the production of sugar and its by-products.
The Punch reported that the food and agro-allied company made this claim in a statement on Sunday. It stated that from its incorporation on September 29, 1960—two days before the country attained independence, it has been at the vanguard of the movement to ensure food sufficiency in Nigeria.
According to the company, it established its Sugar Cane Outgrower Scheme to develop capacity locally in support of the National Sugar Master Plan Agenda.
Since the NSMP and Backward Integration Plan were established in 2012, FMN has participated in them through its subsidiary Golden Sugar Company situated on the Niger River in Niger State. At Sunti in Niger State, the company has an area of 22,000ha on which a 15,000-hectare sugar estate is being developed.
“More than N73bn has already been invested to build the 3,500 ha sugar plantation with irrigated sugar cane and a factory that can mill 3,000 tonnes of sugar per day.
“The factory is the only one built under the NSMP that is still operating and making sugar. A total of 150,000 tonnes of sugar will be produced annually after construction is complete.
The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Boye Olusanya, commented on the Group’s investment in sugar, saying, “FMN, through its subsidiary, Golden Sugar Company, initiated progressive agricultural interventions to promote sugar self-sufficiency in Nigeria and introduced the outgrower program; a transformative and innovative agricultural intervention designed for local capacity development.”
