NIGERIA – Ellah Lakes Plc, a diversified Nigerian agribusiness company, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Enugu State Government to take-over the management and operations of Adarice Farms & Associated Assets from the state government.

Adarice Farms is a Five Thousand Hectare farming estate located in Adani, Uzo -Uwani Local Government Area in Enugu State, that has a Diversion Dam and a 15km main canal for irrigation, in addition to a secondary distribution canal, to enable farming all year round.

The Farm has operated sub-optimally for several years and the Adani Staple Crop Processing Zone Food Company, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), has been set up to oversee and manage the farm and its activities.

Speaking on the development, the Chief Executive Officer, Chuka Mordi said, “We are ready to commence the management and turnaround of the fortunes of Adarice farms, and we fully intend to take the Farm to new heights with the cultivation and processing of Rice, Soybean and Cassava.

“Ultimately, the plan is to turn the entire area into a Staple Crop Processing Zone & bring economic growth and prosperity to the entire sub-region”.

In other related news, the agribusiness company has announced the appointment of Paul Farrer as the new Deputy Managing Director of Ellah Lakes Plc.

Prior to this appointment, Paul Farrer was the Country Manager for Innscor International, then the Group Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer of Food Concepts Plc.

His last 7 Years in Nigerian Private Sector have been spent as the CEO of Nascon Allied Industries PLC, leading a team of over 600 staff.

Mr. Farrer will be responsible for the operational growth and development of the Company, and the expansion of the Ellah Lakes Staple Crop Processing Zones (SCPZ’s) strategy across Nigeria.

“We are very happy and excited about the extremely valuable addition of Paul to the team. He has a proven track record both internationally and in Nigeria.

“We have set ambitious growth targets for Ellah Lakes Plc, and Paul Farrer possesses the wealth of experience required to develop companies in the challenging Nigerian environment,” said Mordi.

Setting itself up as a fast growing agro-allied entity in the country, Ellah Lakes recently entered into a partnership with Montserrado Investment Ltd, to build Sugar processing plant with an expected processing capacity of 600 tons of cane per day.

This is in support of the National Sugar Master Plan (NSMP) championed by the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), which is geared towards “Accelerating the development and growth of the local sugar industry to achieve national self-sufficiency”.

The Sugar Processing facility which is expected to be fully established in 24 months is set to run on 100% renewable power.

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