Owerri - Nigeria spends N165 billion annually
to import fruit juice, the President of the
Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN),
Dr Frank Jacobs, has said.
In a paper presented at a workshop organised
by the Raw Materials Research and
Development Council (RMRDC) in Owerri on
Friday, Jacobs noted that in spite of the high
rate of fruit production and a thriving juice
market, the country imported fruits
concentrates.
In the paper entitled ``Promoting Investments
in Concentrate Production,’’ he said the
situation resulted in an estimated loss of one
billion dollars annually.
Jacobs, represented by Mr Nwabueze
Anyanwu, observed that Nigerian farmers also
lost 60 per cent of their produce as a result of
lack of processing facilities.
He listed other factors to include limited
demand and logistics challenges such as
handling and transporting the fruits to the
urban centres.
``Importation of concentrates has adversely
affected local fruits cultivation for juice
processing,’’ the MAN president said.
He also said that the continued dependence on
massive importation of concentrates by
industries was not healthy for the nation’s
economy.
He said that the availability of raw materials, a
large market, a ready domestic concentrate
and good export potentials should serve as
incentives to attract investment in the project.
Jacobs said that the challenge of poor
concentrates in the country could be overcome
with improved high-yield seedlings, technology
and technical services and better education
and enlightenment for farmers.
He noted that the recent drive by the Federal
Government to diversify the economy,
encourage resource-based industrialisation and
backward integration should provide the
needed impetus to attract investors.
He urged the government to ensure policy
consistency to avoid a repetition of policy
summersaults of yester-years.
The industrialist said that research and
development be made an integral part of the
country’s backward integration policy while
various research institutions should be
strengthened through funding and manpower
development.
Another area to be considered, he said, was a
``special lending facility of not more than 5 per
cent interest rate’’ for investments in
concentrate production in view of the huge
capital outlay required for the project.
Jacobs opined that the gains of promoting
resource-based industrialisation included
conservation of foreign exchange, employment
generation, wealth creation, economic
diversification and poverty reduction.
``A nation’s over dependence on importation
harms its poise, weakens its future reserves,
affects its ability to be fully independent and
presents a string of unpredictable social ills,’’
he said.
The workshop was organised in collaboration
with the Imo state Polytechnic, Umuagwo.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/nigeria-imports-n165bn-fruit-juice-annually-man/

Including chivita?

That's an opportunity Benue government should look into