NAHCO Pushes for Increase in Airfreighting of Nigeria’s Agri-produce

•Says Nigeria can be bread basket of African continent

Chinedu Eze

The Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) plc has said that it has started the implementation of the plan to boost the volume of farm produce for export by providing the infrastructure and logistics needed to facilitate the movement of produce from the farms to the airports.

The company has therefore already established farm produce processing centre at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and has kicked off the plan to set up similar facilities at the other international airports, including the ones in Kano, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Enugu.

This was disclosed by the Group Managing Director of NAHCO, Indranil Gupta during a conference in Lagos at the weekend.

Gupta said that Nigeria has massive fertile land that can make it the bread basket of the African continent, noting that what the country needs is how to get the farmers produce what is needed in the international market.

He said the country also needs how to coordinate what is produced and move them to the targeted markets, adding that this would generate huge foreign exchange for the country.

He disclosed that establishing the export processing centre in Lagos cost the company about N1 billion and NAHCO has the plans to replicate same facility in its Kano, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Enugu stations if the Lagos centre yields expected results.

Gupta disclosed that the company also plans to revive business activities in Kano by waking up those businesses that hitherto produced for export like animal skin, the groundnut pyramid, which are recently facing hindrances like poor logistics, low production and loss of foreign market.

“We want to take Kano back to its original glory, with the export processing centres, we want to reach out to farmers and the middlemen who are supplying and buying the farm produce,” he assured.

Gupta said NAHCO is completely focused on export, in addition to providing  handling services that remained unparalleled, adding that the  processing centre would also enhance standardisation of export processing system

“The idea is that Nigerian produce will be in one shop where they will be well sorted, arranged and packaged before being transported. We plan to put forward some ideas on improving exportation before the Aviacargo committee (set up by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAA) to enhance export of perishables and others by air).

“ I know that Nigeria can be the food basket of the continent if the producers and farmers are availed of the potential of the country. It is much more profitable to export than to import because it comes with foreign exchange,” he said.

Gupta also stated that Nigeria would not only produce for international market but would also produce for local and regional markets, noting that there is high demand of Nigerian produce globally

On Ground Support Equipment (GSE), Gupta said naira depreciation had led to an increase in operating cost, adding that it has adversely affected the importation of handling equipment.

“The company could have significantly done better but for the depreciation of the naira”, Gupta said.

He added: “I hope the purchasing power will improve, that will help in our input volumes, that will also attract more airlines into Nigeria. The total number of air travellers is between 19 to 20 million, Nigeria is not a poor country, but we look forward to emergence of more entrepreneurs, so all these can help us get more Nigerians to fly”.

Speaking further on the export processing centre, Group Executive Director of NAHCO, Saheed Lasisi, said NAHCO was spearheading the export of produce through the centres coming up as links with farmers and serious exporters.

“Our focus is to encourage Nigerian exporters and farmers. Some of our staff were in London for training on packaging and other processes recently and we have also identified five major airports for this. We are also hopeful that purchasing power will improve,” he said.