C’River to Roll-out Locally Produced Toothpicks
The Director General of the Cross River Medium Enterprise Development Agency (MEDA), Dr Ignatius Atsu, has said the state produced toothpicks christened ‘Paradise toothpick,’ will soon be introduced into the market. According to Atsu, the latest brand of toothpick are produced by the state-owned toothpick manufacturing company located in Ekori, the outskirts of the state capital.
Atsu, explained in a statement that the toothpick product which he said was the brainchild of Senator Ben Ayade, was made from the finest bamboo and under strict quality control conditions that met global standards.
He stated that the product is sold through accredited distributors who have been appointed including Evarite Farms and Resources Limited, Old Parliamentary village, Calabar, to cover the southern senatorial district including Akwa Ibom; Madobi pharmacy and general merchants Limited to cover all the states in the south-east and others in the south-south.
He also said another distributor WenWom Uka Osu Limited. Ikom - Calabar high way, Ugep, was appointed to cover the central and northern senatorial districts, adding that as production progresses, more distributors shall be appointed.
The Director-General also pointed out that to support the governor’s massive rice production drive, the agency recently identified rice production catchment areas and was set to acquire and deploy medium scale rice mills with capacity for the milling of 24 - 30 metric tonnes of rice per hour to these areas as part of its intervention process. Speaking on opportunities already created by the governor’s initiative, Atsu pointed out that, “At the moment, the company has employed about 30 persons directly and several hundred others in its value chain that includes the supply of raw materials and factory consumables, distribution and marketing channels, transportation etc.
“Our plan is to take over the Nigerian market in the near future with our product which is the only environment-friendly toothpick produced in Nigeria with aesthetically beautiful and biodegradable packaging.
“It could also be recalled that the toothpick factory is one of the outcomes of Senator Prof Ben Ayade’s industrialisation initiatives.” According to him, given the acceptance that greeted the introduction of the toothpick product, the governor has directed MEDA to add a second line to meet the anticipated growing demand.
He said by January, the plant’s installed capacity would triple its current output and would add additional jobs as well. He noted that the agency had identified rice producing areas where rice farmers had resorted to moving their rice harvest at great cost to neighbouring states for milling because of the absence of such rice mills, adding that before the end of this quarter the governor would ensure that the identified communities are empowered to mill their own Christmas rice this December.
Meanwhile, in line with its vision to produce clothing that can compete with the best designs in the world, the Cross River State government’s owned garment factory in partnership with Blue Ocean of India, recently unveiled a new range of wears which included T-shirts, boxers, polo, shirts and trousers.
Speaking while inspecting the products at the Calabar Garment Factory, the governor, Prof Ben Ayade said he was proud of the quality of the wears from the factory, which he said will be launched during the 2018 Calabar Carnival.