Sutter: We Foresee Great Future for Nigeria

The Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Soybean Export Council, Mr. Jim Sutter, in this interview with THISDAY speaks on the role of the council in fostering collaboration between stakeholders in Nigeria and United States of America to improve intake of protein in Nigeria through trade in soybeans. Dike Onwuamaeze brings the excerpts:

Welcome to Nigeria and what is your experience so far about the country?

I have been here a few times, but it seems a little different today because there seems to be a sense of optimism in Nigeria that I didn’t feel the last couple of times I was here.

What is the optimism all about?

It is in regard to the economy and the new political situation. I think people are excited. There seem to be new things happening.

How do you view the economic policy direction of Nigeria’s new president, Mr. Bola Ahmed Tinubu?

From what I am hearing from people who are active in the market here in Nigeria, I mean people who are businesspeople and have companies here; they seem quite optimistic. They are quick to say that it looks very good so far since the president assumed office on May 29. But he is still in his early days and has to actually get things through the implementation stage. I think that it is much better to have a president that has very positive reactions in his first four weeks, than having negative reactions. So, it seems good so far.

Does it seem like the sleeping giant of Africa is about to wake up?

I hope that is correct. It will be great if it is.

What is the response of the Nigerian business community to your efforts to push American soybeans into the Nigerian market?

We have been working in Nigeria now for about four years. Nigeria is an early-stage market for soybeans and really Nigeria is not much of an importer. It is not really a regular importer yet. So, our work in Nigeria is more to help the industry by working with people that will be customers and importers of soy in the future. We also help the industry by working with poultry and other industries that will utilise soybeans, such as the feed mill industry and the crushing industry, to share some best practices from other countries where we work in. And we are doing some other things in Nigeria like the Soy Excellence Centre. Back in 2019, we started a concept called the Soy Excellence Centre and it is a workforce development programme – not for senior managers or executive-level management people – but for early-stage employees and middle-level people who are just coming up and will be future leaders and managers in their companies. We believe in giving them a good foundational education in feed milling, poultry production and maybe soy crushing, and human utilisation of soy foods products. In the case of Nigeria, we run soy agronomy for the growing of soybeans. If we can give people a good basic education and understanding, we think it will help the industry to be more successful in the long term. We think that this is really a valuable thing that we can do here in Nigeria. We do that in a few places around the world, but Nigeria is one of the key places where we want to be operating the Soy Excellence Centre programme. So, those are the kinds of trainings we are doing here. And I will say that the feedback that we are getting from the Nigerian industry is quite good. I think it is honestly taking a little time for us to be accepted, for people to understand that we are not here today and gone tomorrow; that we want to be long-term partners.

Does this long-term partnership also involve exchange of machineries for processing soybeans in Nigeria? 

Machineries are small part of what we do. We have companies that are members of our organisation that manufacture machineries. We have one of those people as we speak today (Tuesday) in our conference this afternoon, who talked about the machinery they manufacture, and I think that they have been in Nigeria since 1995. But our main mission is not focused on machinery. It is more process-focused by trying to help the industry be more successful, which may include machinery and a lot of other things too.

Apart from encouraging the importation of soybean from America, is your council also promoting the cultivation of soybeans in Nigeria?

Sure! That is part of what our Soy Excellence Centre is all about. We have soy agronomy that helps farmers to be more successful in being able to produce soybeans because Nigeria is a country that has a history of growing soybeans. The crop’s yield for the past few years has been 1.5 million tonnes annually. It is our projection, as we look at the population and the likely demand here that in the years to come Nigeria will need more than what it can produce. So, we expect that it will be consuming even more than it can be able to produce.

What impact is USSEC making on Nigerian soybean farmers?

We are hoping to make them more efficient. And through our Soy Excellence Centre, I hope that we are helping farmers to be more successful. That will be the supply side of the Nigerian soy industry. Then on the demand side, we are helping the crushing industry, the feed industry, and the poultry industry to become more efficient as well.

How is the Soy Excellence Centre contributing to the Nigerian economy?

It can be a great contributor to the Nigerian economy by providing training to future leaders in this industry because I believe that every company can be more successful if it can operate as efficiently as possible.  And giving people good basic training at the start of their career can really help to build a strong base for the companies.

Do you provide them with capital?

No! We are not a capital provider. We are not a bank, but we can teach them how to use capital better, which will give banks some comfort in lending them money. But we are not the lender ourselves. We do not do that. We do not build plants. We are not investors. We are traders of soybeans that are here to help with education through awareness building and sharing of best practices. We do not bring money to build factories, but we train people who work in factories who might one day be the builders of factories. Also, through our training and working with industry leaders, we provide them with opportunities to interact with leaders in the United States’ industries. Hopefully, they are learning and taking something away and becoming a little smarter and a little more efficient every time we have the opportunity to meet with them.

What sectors are you targeting as potential buyers of soybeans?

The sectors are the soy-crushing industry that bring in soybeans, crushes them and turn them into mill that generally goes to the livestock industry or extract oil for cooking. We also deal with those in the livestock, poultry, aquaculture and dairy industries. We will be targeting and working with these industries because they may buy mill from the crushers or import mill directly someday.

How long have you been promoting US soybeans in Nigeria?

We have been active here for about four years.

Are you seeing an appreciable level of progress?

I think we have seen a lot of progress in terms of the relationships we are building and the response we are getting from people. One of the things that I talk about and believe so much in is collaboration. We need to be able to have open dialogue; we need to be open to working together in order to have good collaboration and I think that we are making really good progress in terms of having an open collaboration and talking about what success will look like in the future. But in terms of actual imports coming into Nigeria, there have not been many imports here yet. But we understand because we are not here to make overnight sales and just leave. This is a long-term activity for us, and we believe that we are making good progress in our relationship here in Nigeria.

What is the volume of trade in soybeans between Nigeria and the United States currently?

It is very small today.  But we are thinking long-term because we see a great future here in Nigeria for Nigerian people and the industries that we are working with.

How will the soybean trade help Nigeria overcome its food security challenges?

I think this is a great question. What we can do to help Nigeria is to provide very cost-efficient, competitive, high-quality soy products which are great sources of protein nutrition and vegetable oil. So, our role in providing food security is to be a provider of cost-efficient soybeans that can be an excellent source of protein.

In what ways will soybeans improve the nutritional intake of Nigerians?

Soybean is an excellent source of protein with the ability to produce oil from it. We are working to make sure that people understand that there are issues today in Nigeria with people not consuming enough protein. Statistics will tell us that half of the people that live in Nigeria are not getting enough protein every day. And I think that it is even higher among some parts of society and for some demographics. If you look at children, it can also be a little bit higher. I will hope that through our awareness building, we will be doing something to help relieve that situation. But we do not have all the answers; however, I think that building awareness of the situation and hoping to supply the industries as efficiently as possible should be a great thing that we can do to try to help the food security issue here in Nigeria.

What are the challenges the local soybean market is facing?

The local industry is facing challenges with foreign exchange to import, but that is not totally unique to Nigeria. I think another problem is the purchasing power. During the last few years, there has been high food price inflation and people’s incomes have not been rising and, in some cases, income is going down. The problem with the industry will be the economic situation.

What are your long-term objectives in terms of investments and collaboration with the government? Our long-term goal is to continue doing what we are doing – to continue building our relationship with the Nigerian industries in poultry and aqua industries, the feeding industry, and other related industries; just continuing to be able to work with them and help them to be as successful as they can be. We cannot snap our fingers and make the Nigerian economy a lot better. I wish we could. I wish we could do that for many countries across the world, but we can only be there to help the industry to be ready and be as efficient as a producer as possible. Our long-term goal is to see the Nigerian industry continue to modernise and continue to grow in sufficiency and to see demand grow here locally.