Firm to Produce Ethanol from 6,000 Hectares Cassava Plantation

• Firm to Produce Ethanol from 6,000 Hectares Cassava Plantation

An ethanol refining firm and a subsidiary of Nosak Group, Nosak Distilleries Limited, has announced the acquisition of 6,000 hectares of land in Edo State with a view to enhancing the cassava industry value chain.

The firm added that the move was in a quest to source raw materials locally for its ethanol refinery.

The Group Executive Director, Corporate Services, Nosak Distilleries, Osagie Ogunbor, was said to have disclosed this against the backdrop of the fourth Cassava and Starch Africa Summit with the theme, ‘Driving Sustainable Development Through Innovative Value Chains.’

Commenting on the summit, which took place in Ghana recently, Ogunbor said, “The two-day summit was a good ground to learn new trends in the exploration of cassava and its many by-products. We participated in this year’s summit as a result of our diversification in the agricultural sector and to explore the option of producing cassava into ethanol locally.”

A statement quoted him as saying that Nosak Group was expanding the frontiers through an investment of over N5bn in the acquisition of farmlands for its backward integration scheme as well as planting with a capacity of 100,000 litres per day of ethanol, thereby empowering youths and farmers with employment in Edo State and other parts of Nigeria.

The Managing Director, Nosak Distilleries, Osaro Omogiade, was quoted to have said that the summit was a noble platform for industry stakeholders to discuss innovations in farm mechanisation, new cassava processing projects, starch market opportunities, sourcing challenges faced by end users and many more.

He said, “Nosak Group has acquired over 19,000 hectares in Edo state for plantation purposes. These farmlands will enable the Group to grow three of its subsidiaries: Premier Plantations Limited for cassava plantation and conversion to ethanol for Nosak Distilleries Limited while Nosak Farm Produce Limited. Saturn Farms Limited will increase its plantation base for palm oil, milling, and refining.

Cassava holds enormous potential as a food security crop and has become raw material for an array of processed products that will increase demand for the crop. To achieve this, he said, “Crop yields will have to be improved through mechanisation, better quality stems, frequent weeding, quality fertilisers among others.”