The Federal Government, Monday, inaugurated Nigeria’s first sugarcane bio-factory in Zaria as part of efforts to achieve national self-sufficiency in the nation’s sugar requirements.

Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said the one-million seedling per annum capacity bio-factory was the first in the series to be established in the next five years, with a combined capacity of 12.5 million seedlings per annum.

Aganga spoke while declaring the bio-factory open for operations at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State.

He said: “The provision of high grade and quality seedlings of sugarcane is essential for the attainment of the set goals of the National Sugar Master Plan.

“A bio-factory is a facility where disease-free crop seedlings are rapidly micro-propagated under controlled laboratory environment for planting in the fields.”