Sesame Seed Export

The Nigerian export Promotion Council said that the production of sesame seed in the country would rise to 200,000 metric tonnes by 2012.

The acting Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, NEPC, Mr. Aliyu Lawal, said this at the take-off of the 2007 programme on Boosting Sesame Seed Production for Export held in Lafia, Nasarawa State .

Lawal said that increased production would boost the nation’s earnings as the crop was the second highest export crop next to cocoa.

He said Nigeria could attain the 200,000 metric tonnes given the overwhelming potential of the crop and the interest shown by various state governments such as Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara to cultivate the crop.

He said world trade in sesame seed was estimated at about $600m annually, “and it is worthy to note that Nigeria ranks second to Sudan in terms of production and marketing of the crop in Africa.”

“It is against the background that we urge government and other producing states especially our farmers, to rise up to these challenges of making sesame seed the highest export crop in Nigeria by sustaining the benefits of the project,” he added.

He stated that between 2005 and 2007, the production of sesame seed rose from 30,000 metric tonnes to over 45,000 metric tonnes in Nasarawa State while national production figure stood at about 120,000 metric tonnes.

According to him, the programme was intended to inculcate best practice principles and skills in production techniques to farmers, generate employment, alleviate poverty, guarantee direct market access and reduce middlemen exploitation.

He explained that the project was a collaborative effort between the state government, the council, Olam Nigeria Limited, federal ministries of commerce and industries and agriculture and the National Sesame Seed Association, and was aimed at addressing production constraints.

He implored the state government to put necessary machinery in place to sustain the programme as it would lead to wealth creation, poverty eradication and job creation.

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Nigeria currently earns about $20m annually from the export of sesame seeds, the Director General, Raw Materials Research and Development Council, Prof. Peter Onwalu, has said.

Statistics from the Federal Government showed that Nigeria recorded 138 per cent drop in non-oil export within the first nine months in 2009 when compared with the revenue it generated within the same period in 2008.

According to the latest report on the contribution of the non-oil sector to the Nigerian economy, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent, ”The total income generated from non-oil export from January - September 2009, stood at $900m while total amount accrued to the country from the sector in 2008 was $1.9bn”

But speaking during the presentation of seeds to farmers at the RMRDC Headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday, Onwalu noted that the agency was working in collaboration with local research institutions, under the Agricultural Raw Materials Boosting Programme, to provide sufficient raw materials for domestic use and for export.

He also said that RMRDC was currently working on the modalities for the establishment of raw material processing clusters in all the local government areas across the country in order to add value to agro-products both for domestic consumption and export market.

He said, ” The annual exports of sesame seeds from Nigeria are valued at about $20m. Nigeria is the major supplier of sesame seed to Japan , which is the largest importer of the product.

”However, the country has the potentials to beat Sudan in sesame seed production in view of large and suitable land for its production. The North Central states of Benue, Nasarawa, Niger and Kogi and even the North East and North Western states can take advantage of this opportunity to increase their revenue generation from the non-oil sector.

He added, ” Through the Agricultural Raw Materials Boosting Programme, we have included the promotion of increased production of industrial crops using Out-growers Association of Agro Commodities who are the producers of food and raw materials for local processing. The programme started in 1991 as a follow-up to a recommendation from a Techno-Economic Survey which revealed that most industries are operating below installed capacities due to lack of raw materials in sustainable quantity and quality.

”The agro raw materials boosting programme is an intervention package to promote the use of improved seeds and seedlings to boost the production of selected agro-raw materials to bridge and reduce gaps between raw materials demand and supply”

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By Emeka Ezekiel

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200709048193318