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Olam International, the agribusiness company owned by Temasek, Singapore’s state investment company, has commenced the construction of ultra-modern animal feed mills, poultry breeding farms, and a hatchery in Kaduna State and Kwara State in Nigeria. The project is valued at $150 million (or N30 billion).

Olam said $100 million (about N20 billion) has been committed to building animal feed mills, poultry breeding farms and a hatchery in Kaduna State while $50 million (about N10 billion) will be used to construct an integrated poultry and fish feed mill in Kwara State.

The groundbreaking ceremony was held in Kaduna on Friday and had in attendance Nasir el-Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna State, and Audu Ogbeh, the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari.

Olam said in a statement that at full capacity, both feed mills are expected to produce over 600,000 tonnes of high-quality poultry and fish feed per annum. The Kaduna facility will supply markets in Northern Nigeria and the Kwara facility will supply markets in Southwestern Nigeria. The poultry-breeding farm in Kaduna is expected to produce over one million hatching eggs every week.

Olam said the feed mills will be supplied with locally-produced corn and soybeans, spurring domestic cultivation of these crops. The company said it will create an in-house storage capacity of over 100,000 metric tonnes to store its crops.

“This is the latest investment by Olam in Nigeria’s domestic food and agricultural production sector after our recent investments in wheat milling assets and the ongoing development of our 10,000-hectare rice farm and mill in Nasarawa State,” said Venkataramani Srivathsan, Olam’s CEO for Africa. “By investing in poultry and fish feed, we can utilize the wheat bran from our wheat milling operations, as well as maximize our sourcing networks to buy corn and soy from local farmers. Our investment in the hatchery will help boost poultry production and, in the long run, help reduce the country’s reliance on imports.”

Olam International began its global agricultural commodities trading business in Nigeria in 1989 and has invested over $1 billion in the country’s agriculture sector in the last ten years.

The company is at the forefront of Nigeria’s plans to become self-sufficient in rice production by 2018. In 2013, the company invested N19 billion in a 10,000-hectare rice farm in Nasarawa State to produce 36,000 metric tonnes of rice for the Nigerian market under Mama’s Pride and Mama’s Choice brands. In January this year, Olam agreed to buy the wheat and pasta businesses of Bua Group for $275 million.

Olam is the largest agricultural export company in Nigeria, dealing in the export of cocoa, cashew, sesame, and cotton. The company also owns OK Foods Limited, a biscuit and confectionary maker; Olam Sanyo, a noodles maker; Caraway Foods, makers of culinary ingredients; Ranona Nigeria Limited, makers of breakfast cereals, juices and beverages.