It was a gathering of experts in the agro processing and packaging sub-sector at a round table meeting organised by the Association of Women in Agro Processing and Packaging (AWAP) which held in Lagos. Themed: “Round table meeting towards greater 2025 in agro processing, branding and packaging,’’ they called for proper branding and wrapping of products so as to enhance their marketability both locally and in the international market. They said it would be needless to produce products that cannot be exported or be acceptable in super markets due to poor packaging and branding.
Racheal Eyitayo Ariori President of AWAP, regretted that most of the products of women in agro processing are not acceptable in stores adding, “majority of these women, their products are not (being) accepted by stores, the products cannot be exported because the women do not have access to finance, they are struggling and crowing, l feel that there are so much that is available with this current administration.’’ There are processors that are already in the business, the government can empower them so they can purchase packaging machines, most of these machines are expensive, and an individual cannot afford it.
She stressed the need for the federal government to support processors so they can acquire packaging machines that would in turn prevent postharvest losses. “we all know that packaging machines and materials are very expensive, must of these women do not have it, but if we have a central processing and packaging hubs, where a woman can bring cassava, then she will go out with her packaged garri, tapioca, packaged starch, that will reduce the postharvest losses that we are experiencing in this country, we have a problem of postharvest management and it is affecting our food security as a nation, because we produce more and we lose more because of the postharvest management, we have no freezers no cold rooms, no solar panel that we can help preserve these products.
“Take for instance, when you go to the market, you will discover that in every one ton of tomatoes, half a ton will get bad because there are no facilities to preserve them, if we really want to grow and be better, we need to have production and processing hubs where women can preserve their products’’. This, she explained, would generate money for employees that would manage those facilities and thereby increase food security.
The Managing Director DeLuxe Flour, Chioma Ononye stressed the need for collaboration among women in agro processing and branding, adding that such partnership would strengthen their capacity as women. She said: “whatever be the knowledge cap can be covered up through training. To make 2025 a great year, we must have a holistic review, to look at what worked in 2024 and what did not work in 2024 for us to be able to make adequate adjustment, and then looking at 2025 we must have a clear picture of the need for a proper branding, the consumers concept about branding is not what the producer has in mind, you must think like the consumer to be able to meet their expectation in packaging, also looking at the trend for packaging , it is not just copying what has been, a lot of attraction and creativity must come in to packaging to make it attractive to consumers.’’
