Bauchi NGO gets N1.8m for groundnut processing

As part of the effort to empower women engaged in the marketing of farm produce, Nunkwi Cooperative Society, in Bauchi, has received the sum of N1. 8m grant for groundnut processing.

Speaking at the ceremony marking the disbursement of the sum of N200, 000 of the grant to twenty women, the chairperson of the Society, Mrs Tabitha Ayuba Salem said part of the money was used to purchase machinery for groundnut processing.

She said that “thirty other women who were trained alongside the present beneficiaries would subsequently receive a loan from Nunkwi Cooperative Society to boost processing of groundnut into various products such as groundnut oil, peanuts and groundnut cake popularly known as Kuli-kuli”.

Tabitha Salem added that “We applied for this grant from DEC which is supported by a German-based NGO, Bread For Life, to assist our women to replace age-long manual method of processing groundnuts with modern machinery in order to reduce their hardship so that they can have maximum benefit from their toil”.

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Mrs Salem, however, urged the beneficiaries to make maximum use of the grant to attract the patronage of their products by consumers in Bauchi and other parts of Nigeria.

Earlier, a technical consultant, Mr Ayuba Salem admonished businesswomen in Bauchi State to embrace modern business methods of keeping records of production costs, sales and profit to ensure judicious use of available resources given to them.

He said that experience has shown that “most women fail to keep records of their sales and as such often ended up mismanaging loans or grants given to them to do business.

The N1. 8m grant from DEC was also used to purchase processing machines including the power generator, sievers, grinding machines, oil extractors, manual machine fryer and mechanized machine fryer.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE