The Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, on Tuesday, commended Johnvents Industries Limited for its massive cocoa investment in the state.
The governor lauded the company during the official commissioning of its 15,000 metric tonnes, multi-billion naira Johnvents Cocoa Processing Factory located in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
Commissioning the factory, Mr Akeredolu commended the company for choosing Ondo as the investment destination for such a magnificent agribusiness project.
According to him, “I am delighted to be here for the commissioning of the Johnvents Cocoa processing Factory. Today’s commission of this incredible project is an important milestone in the cocoa agribusiness, not only to Ondo state but to Nigeria as a whole. I commend and congratulate you for coming to Ondo state, and I assure you that we will continue to provide an enabling environment for you to thrive.” The governor noted that, “Nigeria is not taking advantage of the cocoa value chain as only about 10 percent of Nigeria cocoa beans is processed into cocoa butter and powder, while the rest is exported. What this means is that we are losing about 90 percent of our probable revenue from cocoa. I believe that the addition of Johnvents Cocoa will increase the percentage of cocoa beans processed in Nigeria.”
The Group Managing Director of CapitalSage, the holding company of Johnvents Industries Limited, John Alamu, appreciated the state government for its commitment, while also reaffirming Johnvents’ mission to continue at the forefront of driving sustainable growth and end-to-end transformation across the entire agricultural value chain from production processing, manufacturing and distribution. “The decision to embark on the Johnvents Cocoa Processing Factory project was very strategic. As a country, we are doing far below our cocoa export potential as the sixth-largest exporter of cocoa, with a cumulative volume of only about 245,000 tonnes, 90 percent of which is cocoa beans. In other to further tap into the current $5 billion potential value of Nigeria’s cocoa export, we cannot afford to remain at the level of cocoa beans alone, we must increase our cocoa processing capacity to improve our earnings. This is what the factory will help achieve,” Mr. Alamu said.
The Johnvents Cocoa Processing Factory is a 15,000 metric tonnes semi-automated processing plant, with the capacity to crush cocoa into cocoa liquor, butter, cake and powder.
It is an automated and efficient plant with a solid-fired boiler to generate steam and 33KVA electricity supply to significantly reduce overhead […]
