In keeping with its strategic road map, and as part of a commitment to enhance national food security, BUA Foods Plc, on Tuesday said it has signed an agreement with one of the world’s leading pasta equipment manufacturers- FAVA (Italy), in a bid to expand its pasta production facility.

According to a notice to the Nigerian Exchange Limited, signed by Adewunmi Desalu, the Director of Marketing and Corporate Communications, BUA Food said it plans to raise its pasta production capacity by 400 Tonnes per annum, to an annual production capacity of 900,000,000 Metric Tonnes per annum.

The new project which serves as one of several efforts aimed at mitigating food supply challenges in the country, Desalu added, “will result in the addition of nine lines of long cut pasta (6,000 kgs/hr), making it one of the leading pasta producers in Africa. To support the expansion project, a complimentary agreement was also signed with Martini (Italy) to supply packaging equipment.

“These come on the heels of a strategic agreement signed with Cukurova Silo (Turkiye), a global leader in silo solutions, to increase BUA Foods’ grain storage capacity by 100,000 tonnes,” Desalu added.

The latest investment in additional pasta lines, packaging and storage systems, the statement continued, are part of the company’s goal to serve customers better, increase its manufacturing footprint and achieve it’s business objectives.

Also commenting, Chairman of BUA Foods Plc, Abdul Samad Rabiu, said the “manufacturing capacity expansion will continue to enable us extend the boundaries of what we can produce and deliver, supporting our nation’s development by providing solutions to ongoing food shortages.

“In addition to producing more pasta, we’ll be able to introduce new innovations to support mixed volume growth, while consistently delivering the unrivalled product quality our customers expect,” he stressed.

Rabiu further stated that “the additional 100,000 tonnes of grain storage capacity will enable us to meet the growing demand for our products while strengthening the backbone of our food processing operations by ensuring a reliable and consistent supply of raw materials”.

The pasta facility expansion project follows an agreement the company signed with IMAS, a prominent Turkish flour milling equipment manufacturer, to build four state-of-the-art wheat and flour milling factories leading to a boost in the company’s milling capacity to 2.5 million MTpa.

When completed, the production capacity expansion project will strengthen the Company’s manufacturing presence and market leadership while also creating new jobs.