THE National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) has commended BUA Group for investing the sugar industry.
Its Executive Secretary, Dr. Latif Busari, made the commendation at the maiden conference of the Sugarcane Technologies Society of Nigeria (STSN) in Abuja.
Busari said the NSDC was committed to achieving self-reliance in sugar development as contained in the sugar development masterplan for the country.
He expressed satisfaction with the progress at BUA Group’s integrated sugar mill in Kwara State, saying such effort should be emulated by other players.
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“With the pace at which BUA Group is going with its sugar mill in Kwara State, we are quite confident that the backward integration plans to raise local sugar production to attain self-sufficiency, create large number of employment opportunities and to contribute to production of ethanol and generation of electricity are realistic and achievable in the shortest possible time,” Busari said.
He also commended the firm’s integrated sugar plantation in Lafiagi, which has an ethanol production plant capacity of 20 million liters per annum, generate 35 megawatt (Mw) of electricity both for factory and national grid consumption and refined 200,000 metric tons of sugar annually.
Speaking on: Challenges of Emerging Sugar Companies in Meeting the Sugar Demand of Nigeria, Group Executive Director, BUA Group, Kabiru Rabiu, identified huge capital cost, and conflicts in land acquisition as key factors militating against the growth of the sugar industry.
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