Sustainable Development
Mohammed Al Amoudi Invests $125m in Africa’s Largest Edible Oil Factory
Horizon Plantations, a leading food sector component of Mohammed Al Amoudi’s extensive MIDROC Ethiopia business empire, has announced a major investment in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. Four billion Ethiopian Birr (approximately US$125m) has been allocated to the construction of an edible oils factory whose corner stone was laid by City Mayor Takele Uma on December 28th, 2019. The factory will process up to 500 metric tons of oilseeds (600,000 litres of oil) every day. The oil would be derived from ground nuts, soybean, sunflower and cotton seeds, mainly sourced from MIDROC’s commercial farms.
The significance of the factory is that it is a contribution to food sector import substitution of vital importance to the rapidly growing Ethiopian economy. It is expected to save 25% of the nation’s foreign currency expenditure on edible oils. Currently most Ethiopians rely on imported government-subsidised palm oil. The annual subsidy is in the region of US$600m which alone adds up to around 20% of current foreign trade expenditure. Local producers have only managed to supply 4% of national requirements. The new factory will help stabilise prices and assist the national strategy of import substitution (part of the Government’s ‘Home Grown Economic Reform’ Project.
It is of particular significance to Addis Ababa whose population is growing rapidly. The factory will help alleviate edible oil shortages that drive up prices. It should be seen alongside the commitment announced earlier to build a large-scale bakery and flour factory in the capital. Both investments represent a significant and longstanding commitment of Mohammed to the food security of the capital through price stabilisation. Mohammed has already approved not only the funding but the selection of the latest technology required by the edible oils plant. It was also indicated that a yeast manufacturing plant is planned in the near future as part of an overall strategic approach to food manufacturing.
Mohammed Al Amoudi Supports Significant Bio-Pesticide Research
Phyolacca Dodecandra L’Herit (the ‘Endod Plant’) is a sprawling woody climbing shrub, native to parts of sub-Saharan Africa, South America and Asia. It acts as a natural pesticide. Mohammed has funded 5m birr (approximately $170,000) into researching its properties, and its development as a commercial bio-pesticide that can reduce the use of chemical pesticides, on a 50 hectare commercial farm within Ethio Agri-CEFT PLC.
Following successful field trials at two of the companies’ flower farms in Ethiopia and ten years of research, the environmentally friendly plant is now a firm candidate for replacing synthetic pesticides in many domestic and commercial settings. The research confirmed that it had fungicidal, larvicidal and molluscicidal properties and that the use of manufactured pesticides could be reduced.
The molluscicidal property of Phytolacca dodecandra was first discovered by Ethiopian scientist Professor Aklilu Lemma, a pathologist, in 1964. An endod-based molluscicide was used to control zebra mussels damaging American lakes and then applied to halt the spread of schistosomiasis (snail fever disease or bilharzia). It has also proven to be effective in controlling leaches and mosquito larva.
Professor Lemma and his then research associate, now Ethiopia’s leading agronomist, Professor Legesse Wolde-Yohannes won the prestigious Right Livelihood Award of Sweden, commonly referred to as the Alternative Nobel Prize, in November 1989 for their endod-based work on zebra mussels and schistosomiasis.
Ethio Agri-CEFT has received all necessary approvals for the commercial development of the plant from government and independent experts, including the WHO. Investment in its future development, which includes export to overseas markets and possible use as a fertiliser, is an example of Mohammed’s commitment to environmentally sound agricultural and healthcare improvement through private enterprise.
FEATURE: Continued Commitment to New Environmental Technologies
Mohammed Al Amoudi’s continued commitment to sustainability has been signalled by the participation of four leading edge environmental technology companies - where he holds minority investment stakes - in a major presentation of capability in Doha, Qatar, following an agreement between MIDROC New Technology and GORD (Gulf Organisation for Research and Development). GORD is responsible for developing sustainable technology applications for the GCC as a whole. The Gulf States have a strong interest in improving the environment. These four Swedish companies represent technologies, described below, that can be integrated to help manage the region’s ambitions in this area.
Powercell has developed fuel cell technology which converts diesel and hydrogen into electricity highly efficiently. This allows energy consumption to be reduced by 50 per cent while completely eliminating exhaust gases and toxic emissions. Heliospectra offers intelligent lighting systems for greenhouse cultivation that can also be used in extreme environments. In comparison with conventional solutions, less energy and water is consumed, there is no wastage, crop yield is increased – and the crops taste better.
Air to Air offers technology for both heat and moisture exchange, giving the best possible control of indoor climate with the least possible energy consumption and Solarwave offers solutions driven by solar energy for water purification and desalination, making it possible to use water that would otherwise be undrinkable. Solarwave’s compact plants can be as small as a backpack, or big enough to supply thousands of litres per hour.
The presentation will take place in late summer 2015. MIDROC New Technology, alongside other significant Swedish private and industrial investors, has invested in the four companies. MIDROC New Technology is a venture capital company specialising in the environmental and renewable energy fields that is part of MIDROC Europe. Beyond the GCC, these technologies have applications across the world and represent opportunities to jump the technology barrier and give emerging countries improved access to efficient clean energy and better use of scarce water.
Mohammed Makes Major Investment in Addis Ababa's Food Security
Horizon Plantations, a subsidiary of MIDROC Ethiopia Group, has allocated 800m Ethiopian Birr (approximately US$28m) to the construction of a flour and bakery plant in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. Addis Ababa’s City Administration initiated the project. Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi, as Chairperson of MIDROC Ethiopia, was highly supportive of the idea and committed to invest in it.
The plant is expected to bake 80,000 loaves of bread an hour. 100g of bread is planned to retail at 75 cents, a significant cut from the current price of two Birr. The private public partnership project is intended to help alleviate the shortage of bread in the fast-growing city and stabilise its price.
In a related development, MIDROC Ethiopia Technology Group’s Lame Dairy announced plans to double capacity at its Gurd Shola plant. Addis Ababa was recently hit by a shortage of milk and high prices. The doubling of capacity, the continuing supply of high quality feed to smallholder farms and possible investment in its own dairy farm will help the dairy to alleviate such problems.
Update – June 25th, 2020
The Sheger Bread Factory (as the Horizon Plantations investment was named) has now been officially opened by the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed. The bakery has the capacity to produce around two million loaves of bread in three shifts every working day and can reduce the price of bread by over half in a rapidly growing city. The final cost was $26.4m and the project took ten months to complete from start to finish. The factory will also create 3,400 jobs in Addis Ababa in production and distribution.
FEATURE: Efficient Use of Water in Alwero Rice Project
The efficient use of water resources in a sustainable way is part of the initial experimental phase on the 10,000 hectares (of which a test site of 350 hectares is currently under production) allocated to rice production in the Alwero Rice Project in Gambella, Ethiopia.
The project comprises a major irrigation and drainage system with a 30.58km main canal that will irrigate 3,000 hectares with two branch canals. Approximately 177 million cubic feet of soil will be excavated and the total works will require 3.07 million cubic feet of concrete, 13.4 million cubic feet of stone work and 3,000 tons of steel, with every effort made to source the materials from within Ethiopia.
Saudi Star’s geo-membrane technology, part of MIDROC’s wider commitment to new technologies, represents a major piece of engineering, requiring a significant investment by Saudi Star in infrastructure that prevents water being lost through the concrete of the canal, minimizing any wastage.