The Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, has described CONTEC Global Agro Limited, an agriculture solution provider, as Nigeria’s best kept secret to solving its food security challenge.
The Senator, who made this disclosure on Thursday after an on the spot tour of the company research facilities spoke unequivocally about his delight at the quality of research activities going on in the firm’s laboratories.
He said: “My first impression here is that the research work being undertaking here is one of the best kept secrets of the agriculture initiative and research towards meeting Nigeria’s food crisis.”
While commending the management for the huge research facilities for organic agricultural products, he said: “The future is great and we do look forward to government’s encouragement to meet the requirement of these facilities.
“I want to congratulate you because you are doing a good job, please keep it and it is an opportunity to see the wonderful job that you are doing in organic agricultural products production.
Adamu, said he was impressed with the transfer of technology currently ongoing in the company as Nigerians will become better for it, adding that the company has invested so much of resources and efforts in capacity building and agricultural production.
He called on relevant government agencies to support the initiative of the company in mass production of agricultural inputs as a platform for economic development, adding, we encourage government and its agencies to stand up to their needs for assistance like tax holidays.
In his remark while conducting the Senator round the research facility, Managing Director, Contec Global Agro Limited, Mr. Thomas Chackunkal, said the Ministry of Science and Technology, has allocated four hectares of land to build the best integrated bio fertilizer and pesticides factories at SHESCO, in Abuja.
According to him, the company has also concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) and several other research institutes to build green house been signed with them. The company is partnering the Biotechnology agency on green houses for organic farming.
Explaining further on what Contec Agro LTD is doing, Mr. Chackunkal said: “The Plant Tissue Culture Division of Contec Global Agro Ltd, which was established in Nigeria by a team of experienced Scientists in 2016, has a prime objective to produce healthy, high quality and high yielding plants for farmers and clients in the agricultural sector.”
He also highlighted what the firm is doing in the area of research thus: “We specialize in developing appropriate trials and production of various plant species. Research works are going on for various products like, Plantain, Potato, Garlic, Onion, Pineapple, Cocoa etc.”
According to Mr. Chackunkal, the Plant Tissue Culture Division of Contec Global Agro LTD represents a perfect blend of smooth functioning and sophistication of organic inputs for mass production of disease resistant agriculture crops via micro propagation providing cost effective and quality services to farmers and customers in Nigeria.
“It boasts of a 5000 Square feet state of the art laboratory, five (5) fully monitored growth rooms can store over 1.5 million plants and completely controlled greenhouses spread over 1 acre of land, a team of qualified personnel and perfectly tuned logistics that ensure that products are delivered on time, every time.”
Contec Global Agro LTD is the first Nigerian Scientific and Industrial Laboratories Technology (NISLT) certified lab in Nigeria focusing on Agro Research and dedicated to screen the native unique agriculturally beneficial microorganisms and others.
The laboratory currently has collaborations with Ahmad Bello University College of Agriculture (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna State and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Oyo State, for evaluating the developed products efficacy on various cereals, pulses and vegetables under local environment conditions.
The lab situate at Abuja, has the centralized facility for basic research, quality control, analytical lab, fermentation facility, product development and packaging respectively.
The company is currently deploying earth friendly, efficient and commercially viable solutions to all sectors of Nigeria’s agriculture, creating alternative technologies through research and development using non toxic, biodegradable and Eco-friendly approach as demonstrated at the various project sites.
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