By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Managing Director of Crown Flour Mill Limited, Mr Ashish Pande, has described the baking industry as very important for food production in Nigeria.
He said the sector, asides from producing one of the key staple foods in the country, bread, the segment has also created jobs for thousands of people employed in its value chain.
In a statement issued by Crown Flour Mill, makers of the popular Mama Gold Flour brands, to felicitate with Nigerian bakers on the commemoration of the World Baking Day on Monday, May 17, 2021, Mr Pande said the company will continue to provide scaled support resources to bolster the productivity level and employment-generating capacity of the baking industry.
“The baking industry is key for food production in Nigeria; it produces bread, a major staple food in the country, not to mention pastries and confectionery.
“Asides producing Nigeria’s leading staple food, the bread segment creates jobs for thousands of people employed in its value chain, which ranges from bakers down to street hawkers.
“Having realised the importance of the segment to the Nigerian economy, in consultation with bakers, we were able to identify skill and knowledge gaps that needed to be closed if the segment was to continue playing its crucial role in supporting the Nigerian economy and food security.
“Thereafter, we launched a baking school, which has continued to enhance the skill and know-how of operators of non-mechanized or artisanal bakeries since 2018,” he said
Speaking about the company’s baking school and why the firm prioritised bakers’ capacity development, Mr Olayinka Yusuf, Head, Crown Flour Mill Baking School, explained that the baking school offers bakers the opportunity to enhance their technical and business management skills.
“We believe that with the right knowledge, artisanal bakers can improve their output with their existing equipment, resulting in lower production costs and increased margins,” he said.
Mr Yusuf revealed that Crown Flour has committed about N120 million to training bakers pan-Nigeria from 2020 to date.
So far, 1,500 bakers have benefitted from the firm’s capacity building initiative. The Crown Flour baking programme focuses on equipping both existing and the next generation of bakers with the requisite knowledge and skills to take the industry to the next level.
The firm’s baking schools are currently located in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Lagos, Warri, Ilorin, Calabar and Kano where bakers are taken through a 3-day intensive accelerated bakers’ training course for free.
The lockdown afforded many interested bakers the opportunity to hone their skills, prompting them to keep on improving their craft.
“Baking can be a very lucrative vocation and the requisite requirement is the passion and will to pursue one’s dream,” Mr Pande said.
The success and positive feedback from bakers who attended the baking school are heartening.
Mrs Keyede Kikelomo of Excel Bakery said: “I have learnt a lot from this training. One thing I didn’t know before the training was the high-water absorption rate of Mama Gold which translates into an extra dough which results in extra profit per bag of flour.”
Another participant, Mr Ogugba Ernest of Dan Real Bakery shared that he learnt a lot from the Crown Flour baking school.
In his words, “I have learnt the impact, good bakery practices such as ingredients measurement, sanitation and staff management have on the profitability of my bakery.”
World Baking Day is celebrated globally. The commemorative event provides an opportunity for bakers and millers to highlight the benefits of baked foods and drive further innovation in the baked foods industry as households increasingly pivot to wheat derivative foods due to their higher nutrition values, price advantage and availability.
Crown Flour is a subsidiary of Olam, an agribusiness conglomerate.
