Juice Production to Resume in Benue after Benfruits Factory's Successful Trial

News in Brief

-Benue State’s Benfruits Juice Company is set for full production after a successful final test run to process local fruits into packaged juice and concentrate.

-The plant has a crushing capacity of four tonnes per hour and is expected to produce multiple juice variants once fully operational. 

Benue State’s government-owned Benfruits Juice Company is preparing to start full commercial production after completing its final test run in Makurdi. The development marks a fresh push by the state to revive agro-processing, reduce fruit wastage and create a stronger market for farmers across the food-producing state.

The plant, located at the Makurdi Industrial Layout, produced juice during the test stage and is expected to turn out thousands of litres daily once operations begin in earnest. According to the Benue Investment and Property Company Limited (BIPC), the factory is being positioned to absorb fruits grown in the state and convert them into value-added products for both local and wider markets.

Capacity and Product Lines

BIPC’s Group Managing Director, Dr Raymond Asemakaha, said the installation has a crushing capacity of four tonnes of fruit per hour. The orange line was the first to undergo testing, while equipment for mangoes, pineapples, watermelon, tomatoes and apples has also been acquired for future use.

Speaking to journalists after the supervision of the final test, Asemakaha, who was represented by Henry Boager, the company’s Maintenance Manager, revealed that about 600 litres of juice had been crushed within three hours during the testing phase, with the extracted juice preheated and sent for separation before being transferred to the processing chamber.

“At the test-run level, 400 litres of juice were sent into the processing tank every 30 minutes, with over 2,200 litres sent to the chamber every hour for concentrate processing,”  he stated. The company would produce about 75 drums of concentrate a day, targeting two containers a week when fully operational.

Farmers and Local Economy

Asemakaha said the project would keep more agricultural value within Benue and support the state’s wider economic growth. He revealed that the processing model would help farmers earn more from their harvests while also circulating money within local communities. 

While expressing his satisfaction at the performance of the fruit processing installation, the BIPC boss commented on the impact of the company on local agriculture and the economy of the state.

“With this, orchard farmers will become rich with money circulating within the system for development to thrive,” he stated.

He further explained that the project would help address post-harvest losses, especially for fruits and vegetables that often go to waste during peak harvest periods. He added that the factory should also improve farmer income by creating a reliable off-taker for produce that would otherwise have limited commercial absorption.

From Dormancy to Revival

Benfruits Juice Industry was established by the Benue State Government in 2011 and commissioned by former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in 2012 as a fruit processing and juice production factory. The facility was created through a partnership involving Teragro Commodities Limited, the agribusiness arm of Transcorp, and the Benue State Government.

The factory later went comatose in 2015, but BIPC has since taken over its revival under Governor Hyacinth Alia’s administration. The company is now being managed in partnership with Brazil’s Sona Group as part of efforts to restore juice production, reduce imports and strengthen Benue’s industrial base.

Benue, nicknamed the food basket of the nation, has increasingly been pushing from raw production to value addition. The Benfruits revival follows other state-backed industrial efforts, which included the recent revival of the Food Basket Brewery, now producing Zeva Malt, a locally made malt drink, signalling a broader attempt to rebuild agro-processing and manufacturing in the state.