Lentus Foods supplies 60 tons of cassava flour to Flour Mills of Nigeria plc

Lentus Foods and Agro Limited, a food-processing outfit based in Ugo in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State, says it has so far supplied 60 tons of cassava flour to Flour Mills of Nigeria plc, an indication that local flour millers are tapping into the cassava flour initiative of the Federal Government to utilise locally processed cassava flour in their production.

BusinessDay checks also revealed that HoneyWell Flour Mills Limited, another big player in the flour milling sector, has started implementing the policy by accepting cassava flour from local processors.

The Federal Government’s policy of inclusion of about 40 per cent of cassava flour by flour manufacturers and in the production of bread and other confectionery is to encourage farmers to produce more, reduce import on wheat and create employment.

Lentus Foods plant, with two flash driers, has the capacity to process 120 tons of cassava flour and starch per month.

Emma Odor, chairman of the company told BusinessDay that it took the company eight years to come up with the plant, which is utilising locally fabricated machines for its operations.

He urged the Federal Government to encourage local machines fabricators by providing them finance and other incentives to develop more machines, as well as improve on the developed ones.

He added: “One of the major challenges we have in the processing industry for now is unavailability of peeling machines for cassava flour and starch. The available machines are not effective and even the imported ones end up crushing your cassava tuber and thereby reduce your output.

“For instance, there is a cassava flour processing plant close to this factory, the owner invested well over N150 million on machinery, which he imported from England, but those machines couldn’t work, but he was shocked when he visited our factory and saw what we were able to achieve with locally fabricated equipment, he said”. Lack of power is another major challenge he identified and urged the federal and state governments to provide power in the rural areas, adding that provision of electricity in such places, would help reduce their cost of production, create more jobs for rural dwellers as well as reduce urban migration.

“Our factories are sited in the rural areas, where we source our raw material, however, these communities do not have electricity and so we run the factory on generators, which make our cost of production expensive. Imagine burning diesel for a minimum of 8 hours daily at N170 per litre.