Propcom +, an eight-year UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) funded climate-smart rural agricultural program, has partnered with Arjena Foods Limited to set up a peanut-cleaning, coated-snack processing factory in Kano state.
Peoples Daily reports that the facility, located at Challawa industrial area in Kano, is dedicated specifically to the cleaning of peanuts and the processing of Nutzy coated peanut snacks.
Speaking at the commissioning ceremony in Kano on Wednesday, Ajay Ramnani, Executive Director, Arjena Foods Limited disclosed that the facility was established through winning a grant from the FCDO.
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According to Ramnani, the state-of-the-art facility was equipped with machines needed to clean the home-grown peanuts and produce the company’s signature Nutzy coated peanuts.
The Executive Director explained that since 2012, the company’s journey began when it discovered that “despite Nigeria’s status as the world’s largest peanut consumer and the third-largest producer, all peanut paste both commercial and therapeutic was being imported.”
That realization, according to him, ignited a vision to establish a truly Nigerian peanut-processing company, one that would meet global standards, generate demand for local crops, and create lasting economic benefits for farmers and communities.
“Today’s facility is dedicated specifically to the cleaning of peanuts and the processing of our beloved Nutzy coated peanut snacks.
“Every machine here, every square meter of warehouse space, stands as a testament to what we can achieve when vision aligns with support-especially the vital support of the FCDO and their delivery partner Palladium’s Propcom+ programme,” Ramnani said.
In her remarks earlier, the team lead Propcom+, Dr Adiye Ode said it is in partnership with Arjena Foods Limited in view of its (Propcom+) commitment to supporting businesses to build rural economy.
According to Dr Ode, Arjena Foods Limited decided to bring the facility to where it gets the peanut from, that is Northern Nigeria where ground nut is produced more.
“So, Kano is the natural choice for Arjena to locate the peanut processing facility . But it is a risky venture. So, they came to Propcom+ and as part of the objectives, we co-finance risky ventures with market players.
“And so we entered into the partnership with them and we provided a grant to them to build this facility and also to equip this facility,” she explained.
Dr Ode also explained that Propcom+ also work with with Arjena to help it build supply chain for the benefit of local farmers, especially woth the location of the facility ckose to them.
“So they are linked right back to the farmers, who are producing ground nut. They are within their supply chain. So that is what Propcom+ has done in this partnership,” she added.
In his remarks, Kano state Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr. Daniuma Mahmoud, said the state government is up and doing to revive ground nut production.
Represented by the state Coordinator, Special Agro-industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ), Alhaji Aminu Iliyasu, disclosed that the government is currently making a significant effort in reviving the groundnut, specifically the processing aspect through the SAPZ programme.
He explained that the SAPZ was envisaged to have a dedicated Agricultural Transformation Center (ATC) at Dawanau, Dawakin Tofa LGA for the aggregation and primary processing of groundnut, with commodity.
“Under the same SAPZ a state-of-the-art Agro-industrial Hub (AIH) was proposed to be constructed at Bagauda, in Bebeji LGA, for final processing of groundnut along with Rice. Tomato and Sesame.
“To sustain demand and uptake of such agricultural products, the programme focusses on att acting private sector agribusinesses to set up processing plants in zones of high food production to process commodities into food products similar to what Airena Food is commissioning today,” he said.
