The Federal Government has been advised to give more attention to tree crops including, oil palm, cocoa, rubber, coffee, cashew, shea, dates, coconut, avocado, tea, grapes among other tree crops.
National President of the National Palm Produce Association of Nigeria (NPPAN), Alphonsus Inyang, made the call in an interview stating that tree crops is one area in the sector that did not receive much attention during the previous government.
He said although Nigeria was the leading producer of some of the tree crops, such as cocoa and oil palm in the 1960s, it has since lost its position among the producing countries that are earning billions of dollars every year.
Inyang, who is also the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Hebron Integrated Farms and Mills Limited, argued that the crops can lay the foundation for an industrial nation.
“None of these tree or perennial crops yield for less than 40 years and rural economies can be built around crops for generational prosperity.
“President Bola Tinubu should not go the way of his predecessors; he should not make Nigeria a country of all agricultural commodities and import the same commodities because of lack of focus on some specific commodities for primary production and processing.
“He should target some perennial commodities and get a dedicated fund for states where they have comparative advantage,” Inyang said.
The NPPAN president frowned on a situation where the country is focusing on crops it does not have any comparative advantage on in the global arena, adding that it wants to produce everything and import the same.
He noted that America is known for soybeans and maize, Russia for wheat, Brazil, cassava and cocoa, Indonesia, oil palm, Malaysia, oil palm, Thailand, rice, India, rice and groundnuts.
“The new president should focus on crops with long value chains, develop clusters for primary production and processing for wealth creation. For example, every part of the oil palm tree is useful for the industrial revolution.
“My association has engaged experts around the world that can help us create over one million jobs from the waste products of oil palm. We have also developed a nationwide programme that will create over five million jobs and lift over five million households from poverty and launch them into generational wealth,” he said.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
and then