Nutreco, a Dutch producer of animal nutrition, fish feed, and processed meat products, has been awarded a US$4.8 million grant to build feed mills in remote African communities. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant is one of the foundation's first investments in the animal feed space, and it will be used to accelerate the implementation of localised, sustainable complete feed production in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Due to inefficiencies and infrastructure challenges, compound feed production in Africa is limited, and feed production facilities are expensive to install. As a result, according to Nutreco, small-scale livestock farmers face reduced margins and uncertain futures unless they gain access to quality animal feed.
The $4.8 million grant will directly fund 21 Hendrix4U complete feed production projects in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Uganda at first. According to Nutreco, Hendrix4U is a "factory-in-a-box" for rural areas that ensures access to quality compound feed production for small-scale producers in a financially sustainable manner.
Feed-producing distributors gain access to training and education in those markets, in addition to the facilities themselves. They will learn how to assess the quality and nutritional value of raw materials in order to validate the use of local crops for specific animal nutrition applications.
They will also learn how to reduce the risk of mycotoxin contamination in compound feed components, as well as feed mill management, finance, and business acumen, among other things. Nutreco collaborates with and supports organizations all over the world to ensure that it can play its part in Feeding the Future.
Fulco van Lede, CEO of Nutreco, stated that Africa will account for more than half of the projected global population growth in the coming decades. Many people there, he continued, will face food insecurity and hunger if no investment is made in innovation-driven development to increase the sustainable production of food in the region.
"Today's grant funding validates the work we're doing in Africa to equip producers with the tools they need to secure their livelihoods," he said. Nutreco is active in over 40 African countries, with teams in 15 countries and over 500 people dedicated to aquaculture and animal nutrition.
Nutreco entered the African market in 2001 by acquiring a stake in the Egyptian company Hendrix Misr, which was taken over completely in 2013 and renamed Skretting Egypt. The Dutch company expanded its presence in Nigeria through a fish feed joint venture in 2014, and in 2016, it also established a fish feed joint venture in Zambia, as well as two aquaculture joint ventures earlier this year in Kenya and Uganda.
