Stakeholders Mobilize cashew export production village in Kogi State
Cashew farming stakeholders in Kogi State have been mobilized for Cashew Export Production Village (EPV) Development in the state.
The Trade Promotion Advisor, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Lokoja Smart Office, Hajia Amina AbdulMalik, made this known at a stakeholders’ forum on the establishment of export production villages for cashew development and export in Kogi State.
According to her, the NEPC Lokoja Smart office, through the intervention of the headquarters, organized the forum to bring together critical stakeholders in the cashew subsector to address the challenges retarding significant increase in production and processing of cashew for export.
She noted that it was hoped that the NEPC and all the critical stakeholders present at the forum would work for the successful take-off of the project, which would lead to wealth creation and repositioning of the economy of the state.
“NEPC has targeted cashew because it constitutes the major agricultural commodity in the state with huge potential that is yet to be fully maximised. According to recent data sourced from the National Bureau of Statistics, apart from aluminium alloy, urea and re-exports oil and gas, the majority of Nigerian export in 2021 remained raw unprocessed products like crude oil, cocoa and sesame seeds. The top export of Nigeria in 2019 in the agricultural sector was unprocessed raw commodities,” she said.
The representative from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Kogi State, Mallam Hassan Dauda, said cashew farming and value addition should be encouraged in the state.
He stressed that the government, at all levels, should make sure that the cashew industry is encouraged.
The Guardian
