Mrs Oyebola Adewoye, the Chief Operating Officer, Rehoboth’s African Continental Foods, on Wednesday expressed the willingness of food processors to partner with farmers and investors.
Adewoye said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of the 1st Nigeria Food Safety and Investment Forum in Lagos.
According to her, the Conduits of Excellence is a value chain created by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).
Adewoye, also member of the Conduits of Excellence, said it was initiated to ensure that highly standardised produce are coming from Nigeria.
“The main reason we are here today is to woo investors, who are interested in partnering with farmers, processors.
“By giving out loans or grants to ensure that right farm inputs, pesticides are brought into the country.
“If farmers don’t have access to the right finances that is needed to buy the right chemicals, they will keep on importing chemicals that are dangerous to health because they are cheap.
“With these conduits of excellence, it has the open opportunity for partnership with investors so as to ensure food safety in Nigeria.
“Investors are sure of getting their money because of the credibility it will give to our products.
“Because once the right products goes outside the country people would buy since they know it is tested and approved,’’ she said.
Adewoye also urged investors to partner with accredited laboratories that would carry out proper and essential test and checks on the food produce.
She said that it would ensure that food produce was clean and free from toxin and chemicals that could be dangerous to the health of the people taking them.
“We are to ensure that everything is rightly regulated from the farm to the table and to ensure that healthy things are passed on to the consumers.
“The first trial is on beans because there is a ban on beans exportation and this is to ensure that the ban is lifted, and whatever is coming out of Nigeria to other countries is of genuine quality.
“After the trial from the beans is done, it can now be transferred to other products that are exported and also the once that are given to nationals of the country,’’ said the food processor. (NAN)