The head of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs at Nestle Nigeria, Victoria Uwadoka has disclosed that the company in its quest to source its raw materials locally has been able to reduce the rejection of grains at the factories from 12 percent in the past three years to less than 4 per cent.
Uwadoka disclosed this during her visit to the Lagos office of Media Trust Limited where she said efforts put in place by the company, have reduced the rejection rate to less than 4per percent across all its factories.
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Some of the challenges identified with farm produce range from the quality of the seeds to the quality of soil, to the preparation of the soil and to the use of fertilisers, chemicals and pesticides at different levels, as well as the transportation of the produce, and the weather among others.
She said: “We saw the gaps that needed to be filled to reduce the level of contamination and so what we needed to do was to educate our farmers on why they should farm in a certain way, and instead of drying under the rain or in the open, they should quick dry, provide the resources that they need to quick dry?
“We also looked at the transportation, the kind of vehicles they needed, and how to ensure that there was no contamination in the vehicle before loading the new grains. So, all across the value chain, we have to work with the farmers, the aggregators and transporters to improve the practices.”
Uwadoka explained that this has helped improve the overall quality of grains that come to the factory.
She said they are working with the local farmers to actually enhance how they farm and modernise the farming methods to ensure that we are sustaining the soil to support the company for the next 150 years.
She pointed out that while the company is developing the capacity of farmers to produce more, it is also attracting the next generation of farmers.
The General Manager, Southern Operations at Media Trust Limited, Mr. Ademola Oladosu described the media organisation as dynamic. He encouraged Nestle to take advantage of the dynamism of the company by improving visibility with the multi-platform channels the company offers.
