|
|
Nigeria: FG Tasks Stakeholders On Cashew Dev
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Vanguard (Lagos)
16 May 2008
Posted to the web 16 May 2008
Umoru Henry
Lagos
AS part of moves to move from over dependence on oil to the non-oil sector in developing the nation's economy, the Federal Government on Tuesday urged stakeholders in cashew industry to develop strategies and realistic road map that will help move the industry forward.
Speaking at the formal launch of the National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NICAN) at Agura Hotel, Abuja, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Ahmed Garba Bichi, said, "the leadership of the association is to ensure that the potential of the crop is tapped by instituting a strong enterprise base for the industry. The Ministry is ever willing to collaborate with NCAN in this regard".
According to him, cashew seed which he described as an important crop that features prominently in international trade and native to the north-eastern Brazil, however stressed that Nigeria runs fourth after Tanzania, Corte D'Ivoire and Guinea Bissau in the African Zone with an annual production of about 25,000 metric tonnes of raw nuts.
"Cashew is an important commodity in the world economy and in Nigeria in particular. It is a source of useful products and by-products used for food, medicine, and industrial raw materials and suitable for the control of soil erosion", he said.
Bichi who noted that the crop is being produced in 22 states across the geo political zones of the country, however urged all producing state governments to encourage commercial planting of the crop, adding that all commodity interest groups in the country must come together towards forming associations for their own interest and the promotion of trade.
"If this is done carefully, such association could acess financial facilities from government or any other financial institutions to improve their trade", he added.
Earlier in his address, the chairman of the Association, Tunji Owoeye who stressed that plans have been concluded for establishment of two cottage cashew processing industries in every state of the federation where thousands of jobs would be created for the teaming youths as well as reduce poverty to its barest level.
According to him, inspite of huge resources needed for cashew investment, many of the members still lack knowledge of post harvest handling of cashew which has led to low price of Nigeria Cashew, adding that with the association in place, members would have the opportunity to have enough education on post harvest handling that will add value to the product and make it more competitive at the international market.
Owoeye who pointed out that the sector was capable of creating wealth as well as reduce poverty, however lamented that Nigeria was losing close to 50% of the market value of the product due to post harvest mishandling, adding that within the next two years, the presence of the association would turn around cashew industry in Nigeria.
He stressed that when all is put in place, the country can conveniently earn between $9,000 to $1 million per metric tonnes on export of cashew.
"Value addition and local processors would be encouraged and assisted to improve quality of kennel production and also diversify output through the production and also to diversify output through the production of kernel production of composite juice (cashew fruit based), processing of cashew nut shell into high grade oil (for insecticide). Profitably and competitiveness can be further enhanced in the industry using the multi-product approach", he added.
|
In his remarks, Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, Abba Ruma who noted that with the launch, the association will be empowered to partner with other stakeholders to properly re-organise the cashew industry, by increasing the land under cashew and protecting existing holdings as well as promote value to cashew products.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
