The European Union pledged its support for the nation's emerging food manufacturing and agro-business industry towards meeting international standards.
The pledge is contained in
a statement issued by Dominik Rzepka, Public Relations Manager, Fairtrade
Messe, the organisers of Agrofood and Plastprintpack Fair, held in Lagos.
The EU Ambassador / Head
of Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr Michel Arrion, was quoted as saying
that union would assist Nigeria in the area of machinery, equipment and
technological know-how.
He said that European
suppliers could play an important role in providing the Nigerian food
manufacturing and agro-business industry with machinery, equipment and
technological know-how.
Arrion said the synergy
would aid Nigeria to meet a high degree of food safety and compliance with
international hygienic standards.
Arrion said, “The food and
beverage sector represents a very large segment of the Nigerian manufacturing
industry.
“The sector generates over
1.5 million jobs in the country, and thus employs five per cent of the Nigerian
workforce.
“Moreover, with a market
of over 160 million consumers and a constantly growing population, Nigeria has
an increasing demand for packaged and ready-made food products,” he said.
Also speaking, Yetunde
Adejumo, Lagos State Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development, said that packaging remains vital in the emerging Nigerian food
industry.
“We encourage the Nigerian
producers to deepen the processing of foodstuffs in order to generate better
value.
“That is what the outgoing
administration has achieved. We now need more of packaging.”
Michael Kloss, Managing
Director, KHS Machines Nigeria, an exhibitor, said, “For KHS, Nigeria
represents a huge market.
“The Nigerian plastic
sub-sector is expected to grow by seven percent over the next ten years. This
positive outlook mirrors the satisfaction rates of the exhibitors in this
branch.
“The Nigerian market is
moving towards quality products, and as our company is Japanese, quality is our
first priority.”
Meanwhile, the organisers
of the fair said that 91 exhibitors from 26 countries, with 1,349 registered
visitors, attended the fair.
No comments:
Post a Comment