Harvestfield Begins Local Production of Next-Generation Mosquito Nets, Targets Better Health, Jobs
Nigeria’s fight against malaria has received a boost with the commencement of local production of next-generation insecticide-treated mosquito nets, a development expected to strengthen malaria prevention while creating jobs and expanding opportunities within the country’s healthcare manufacturing sector.
Harvestfield Healthcare FZE has commenced commercial production of Synera DuoForte, a dual active ingredient long-lasting insecticidal net, at its manufacturing facility in the Harvestfield Free Trade Zone, Ogun State.
Operations began on September 13, 2026, with the facility already supplying a World Bank-funded programme reaching 31 states across Nigeria.
For millions of Nigerians who remain vulnerable to malaria, the significance of the development goes beyond the establishment of another factory. It means greater domestic capacity to produce a critical public health product, potentially making it easier for malaria-control programmes to respond to changing mosquito resistance patterns and the country’s continuing disease burden.
The nets combine a pyrethroid insecticide with a second insecticide that works through a different mode of action. This is particularly important as mosquito populations in many parts of Nigeria have developed resistance to pyrethroid insecticides commonly used in conventional treated nets.
While conventional nets can still provide a physical barrier against mosquitoes, resistance can reduce their insecticidal effectiveness. Dual active ingredient nets are designed to provide improved protection in areas where pyrethroid resistance has become established, with the World Health Organisation recommending the class for such settings.
Synera DuoForte is WHO-prequalified, while the Harvestfield manufacturing site in Ogun State is included as an approved manufacturing location under the product’s prequalification. The facility is also certified by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, and ISO certified.
The standards are expected to enable Harvestfield to manufacture nets for national malaria programmes and other health interventions requiring internationally recognised quality systems.
A representative of GDM Health Products, Jon Bastow, described the partnership with Harvestfield as a strategic step towards bringing Synera DuoForte production to Nigeria, the country with the world’s largest malaria burden.
Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, said local manufacturing of health products was central to strengthening Nigeria’s health security.
He noted that a Nigeria-based facility producing next-generation insecticide-treated nets to international standards, while already supplying programmes across 31 states, represented the kind of domestic capacity needed to strengthen the country’s healthcare system.
Beyond malaria prevention, the new manufacturing operation could also have an impact on Nigerian households through employment and skills development.
The factory creates opportunities across manufacturing, engineering, technical operations, quality control, regulatory compliance, logistics, warehousing, administration and other areas of the healthcare value chain.
As production expands, local businesses providing packaging, transportation, maintenance, raw materials, professional services and other support functions could also benefit, creating a wider economic effect beyond the factory gates.
For a country seeking to reduce dependence on imported health products, the investment also represents a shift from simply bringing healthcare commodities into Nigeria to developing the people, expertise and infrastructure required to produce them locally.
Harvestfield Healthcare FZE is wholly Nigerian-owned and its entry into manufacturing builds on 26 years of experience in Nigeria’s vector-control sector. The Harvestfield group has delivered more than 42 million insecticide-treated nets across all 36 states and has served as an exclusive national distribution partner for WHO-prequalified nets since 2018.
The transition from distribution to manufacturing is also expected to strengthen the domestic supply chain and reduce dependence on overseas production schedules. Local production can help reduce the lengthy waiting period associated with imported nets, including the 45- to 60-day ocean journey, while giving malaria-control programmes greater flexibility to respond to public health needs.
Dr Abdul Mukhtar of the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain, PVAC, said the initiative was designed to help Nigeria move from importing health products to producing them domestically.
He stressed that the value of local manufacturing lies not merely in having a factory, but in developing facilities capable of meeting internationally accepted standards and supplying products at national scale.
For Harvestfield, the Ogun State facility is being positioned as the first platform in a broader effort to develop healthcare manufacturing capacity in Nigeria, with the potential to support the production of other health products in the future.
The development aligns with the Federal Government’s push to strengthen domestic healthcare production under the Renewed Hope health agenda, the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain and the Nigeria First procurement policy.
With malaria continuing to place a heavy health and economic burden on Nigerian families, the emergence of local capacity to produce more advanced mosquito nets offers a combination of public health and economic benefits — helping to strengthen protection against malaria while creating jobs, developing technical skills and keeping more value within the Nigerian economy.
