…..as Charles Anudu hails Lekki Free Trade Zone, emphasizes food security and farmers’ empowerment
Our reporter
For many Nigerian farmers, agriculture has long been a struggle with low yields, drudgery, and limited access to modern technology.
But inside the Lekki Free Trade Zone, Candel FZE, led by Founder and Chairman Charles Anudu, is changing that narrative.
Candle FZE produces herbicides, insecticides, and liquid fertilizers tailored specifically for West African crops such as cassava, yam, and cowpea, ensuring that the solutions are effective in local conditions; from rainfall patterns to soil type.
According to him, “We started three years ago and we help farmers to grow their business. We believe that farming should not be a poverty alleviation program. Farming should be a business. And if we give technology, essentially the chemical technology, we liberate them, make it less drudgery, reduce the drudgery in agriculture, and give them the ability to do more, increase their yield, and also their quality.
“We are super local. The difference between us and a lot of the international companies is that they make for the world. For us, this is our terrain. The size of our raindrop is different. Our soil is different. The crops are different. So we understand the perspectives of the farmer, their constraints, what they want to achieve.”Anudu told the Narrative Hub.
By packaging products in sachets, Candel FZE ensures that smallholder farmers can access solutions without financial strain.
He said, “Some farmers are not able to buy up to one bottle. We put it the way you have Bonvita and Ovaltine. We are now putting products in sachets… based on the knowledge of our market, based on the knowledge of our people.”
Liberating farmers and communities
Candel FZE’s innovations are not only increasing farm productivity, they are liberating farmers, particularly women, from the physically intensive work that has historically limited the scale of their farming.
The company’s work is also contributing to national food security by improving yields.
Nigerian farmers typically harvest about two tons of rice per hectare, compared to eight to ten tons in countries like China.
Candel FZE’s technology helps narrow this gap.
Charles said, “Because insects and weeds have not attacked the crop, the yield is higher. We liberate the women, who do the bulk of the hard work. They can then do food processing and other activities in the homestead. Children are also liberated to go to school. These are the other social aspects of what we really do.
“Our food security will not come from cultivating more hectare. It has to come from the yield, from the efficiency… Once you can reduce the food inflation rate, you will reduce the overall inflation, because a major part of it is food,” Anudu explained.
Safe, regulated use of modern agricultural technology
Addressing concerns around GMOs and chemical inputs, Anudu emphasized that Candel FZE’s products are highly regulated and safe for both crops and humans.
“Other than the tobacco industry, no other industry is as regulated as the pesticide industry… What we do is entirely safe. The products are tested on crops, soil, non-target organisms, and the people who eat the crops. The regulation is fairly strong.” He said
The Lekki Free Trade Zone advantage
Operating from the Lekki Free Trade Zone has provided security, reliable power, and streamlined administrative support, enabling Candel FZE to focus on innovation and farmers’ needs rather than infrastructure challenges.
“Security is one of your biggest assets here. We run 24 hours a day. You find out that the money I could have deployed to increase production would have gone to basic infrastructure and security in other places. Here, the environment is conducive to operate safely and efficiently.” He noted
For Charles Anudu, the mission is clear: modernize Nigerian farming, improve yields, and ensure food security, all while empowering communities and safeguarding health.
“If you plant anything, weeds will attack it. Insects will attack it. With our technology, you can cultivate more hectares. Insects and weeds don’t destroy your crops. The yield is higher. Women and children are liberated. Communities thrive. That is what we are doing, transforming agriculture one farm at a time.”
Candel FZE is helping transform farming in Nigeria by easing the heavy labor traditionally done by women.
By providing specialized fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides adapted to local crops and conditions, the company allows women to spend less time on back-breaking farm work and more on food processing and household activities.
The company focuses on increasing yield and efficiency rather than expanding farmland, helping farmers produce more from smaller plots.
Its products are tailored to Nigeria’s unique soil, rainfall, and crop conditions, making farming more productive and sustainable.
Through these innovations, Candel FZE is turning farming into a viable business rather than just a means of survival. Small-scale farmers can expand cultivation, improve crop quality, and generate more income.
By supporting women and improving yields, the company is contributing directly to Nigeria’s food security and helping create stronger rural communities.
Candel FZE stands as a beacon of innovation, proving that Nigerian agriculture can be both profitable and sustainable, with farmers at the heart of the solution.
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