By Stanley Opara

Wednesday, 22 Dec 2010

First City Monument Bank Plc has pledged its support for Olam Nigeria and the Ondo state government to establish agricultural plantations in the state.

The bank, in a statement on Tuesday, said the move was in response to Ondo state‘s policy focus on the development of the agricultural sector.

This, however, followed a meeting held by stakeholders recently at Olam factory premises in Akure which had in attendance the Executive Governor of the state, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko.

The whole project, which is estimated to cost $50m, according to the bank, has the cultivation of cocoa as its main focus and is expected to create over 6,000 jobs.

Olam and Ondo state government are joint owners of the proposed plantation and going by the terms of the joint venture partnership, Olam is also expected to invest significantly in the setting up of processing plant facilities.

This, according to the bank, further ensures value creation and develops the whole value chain of agricultural production in Ondo State.

The JV is expected to take off with approximately 10,000 hectares of cocoa plantation, which invariably will make Ondo state one of the largest producers in West Africa. West Africa currently supplies about 70 per cent of world cocoa consumption with major sources from Cote D‘voire, Ghana and Nigeria..

It is calculated that the JV will help to increase foreign exchange earnings and reduce the nation‘s over-dependence on oil revenues.

Source: Punch