By Nneka Nwogwugwu
The management of Crown Flour Mill, a subsidiary of Olam, has revealed plans to establish its pilot wheat research programme in Kano.
The company said this when its senior management paid a courtesy visit on the Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje in Kano.
The company came on a visit to explore areas of opportunity, partnership and collaboration, between the company and the state government.
The Managing Director, Crown Flour Mill, Mr. Ashish Pande, said the company is prepared to support the state in its goal of increasing its food production capabilities and capacity.
Pande said that the company will achieve this support by leveraging on its experience in global agriculture and food systems, geared toward promoting thriving farming communities, and ensuring food security and safety.
He said that the organization is hoping to establish its pilot wheat research trial programme in Kano where it intends to make investments in seed trials, provision of inputs, training and research infrastructure to boost yields thereby empowering prosperous farming systems.
“Our commitment to research and development is the key to why we’ve been successful as an organization over the years and have been able to consistently create better quality, safe, great tasting and more reliable food produce/ products which meets our customer needs and improve the livelihoods of our farmers,” Pande said.
Pande appealed to the state governor to support the company in all its initiatives in the wheat value chain.
The Deputy Governor, Alhaji Nasiru Gawuna, who represented the governor, said that supporting Crown Flour Mill’s initiatives would be in alignment with the administration’s agenda for the agricultural sector and would enable the desired boost in the Wheat value chain.
Gawuna, also the Commissioner for Agriculture said that the state was looking forward to partnering with organisations across the wheat value chain to improve production.