Benfruit Plant is a fruit-processing plant based in
Benue State
Benue State is one of the North Central states in Nigeria with a population of about 4,253,641 in 2006 census. The state was created in 1976 among the 7 states created at that time.The state derives its name from the Benue River which is th ...
in Nigeria’s fertile middle-belt region. It is owned and operated by
Teragro Commodities Limited, the agribusiness subsidiary of
Transnational Corporation of Nigeria
Transnational Corporation plc (or Transcorp Group), is a diversified conglomerate with strategic investments and core interests in the hospitality, agribusiness and energy sectors. A publicly quoted conglomerate with a diversified shareholders ba ...
Plc (Transcorp), a Lagos-based conglomerate. It was established in 2011 as a result of a partnership between Teragro and the Benue State Government.
The plant is used to process orange and pineapple concentrates, mango purees and orange oil for industrial markets. The plant can process up to 26.5 million tons of fruit per year; the existing technology housed there ensures that the juices extracted meet international quality standards.
History
On May 19, 2011, Teragro signed an agreement with the Benue State government to take over Benfruit, the state-run fruit juice concentrate company.
The plant, which is located in the Makurdi Industrial Estate, is situated on one hectare of land. It has installed capacity to produce orange, mango and pineapple fruit concentrates at up to 26,500 metric tonnes per annum.
During several consultations across the state with farmers’ cooperatives, government representatives, and local politicians, Transcorp Plc was invited to make the investment in support of Benue’s reputation as the ‘food basket of the nation'. Benue State currently produces over one million (1,000,000) metric tonnes of citrus fruits per annum.
The Benfruit transaction was Transcorp’s first investment in the agribusiness segment.
Operator
Teragro Commodities Limited is the operator. Teragro and its products are certified by the
National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration (NAFDAC) of Nigeria and the
Global Food Safety Initiative The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is a private organization working as a "Coalition of Action" from The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) bringing together retailers and brand owners (manufacturers) from across the CGF membership operating as multis ...
(GFSI) with ISO 9001:2008 and FSSC 22000:2005.
References
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Food and drink companies of Nigeria
Benue State