Sokoto State, NEPC to produce onions, cowpea for export

Sokoto State government in collaboration with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has disclosed its readiness to maximise the advantages of onions and cowpea through exportation.

This was disclosed by the Executive Director of Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr Olusegun Awolowo, during a training organised by the agency for onion farmers and processors on modern ways of production, packaging and other strategies to enhance commodity exports.

Mr Olusegun Awolowo reiterated the council’s commitment during a workshop on the implementation of the One-State One-Product (OSOP) value chain export development model on Wednesday in Sokoto.

Awolowo, represented by Mr Ahmed Yahaya, NEPC’s Trade Advisor and Head in Sokoto State, said the growing global market of onion is an opportunity that Nigeria has keyed into world producers with a lot of potentialities.

”Onion became important in the global market as the global onions export in the 2019 grew to about 7.18 billion US Dollars from 6.03 billion US Dollars in 2018.

”Beside increasing demand for onions, the sector is faced with challenges in Nigeria which include climate change, low yields and quality of packaging issues.

“Others are low processing, sharp practices, infrastructural deficiency and poor finance which has constrained export,” Awolowo said. 

According to him, for decades Nigeria largely depended on oil exports for revenue earnings which affected the nation’s budget when the oil market dwindled.

He said the gap widened when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.

“We focus and key into President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision of raising people out of poverty and empower them.

“The objectives of this training programme include to encourage the target beneficiaries to embrace agri-business development, as a viable business option and strengthen entrepreneurship skills of potential/existing beneficiaries of agri-business development schemes,’’ he said.

Also speaking, Alhaji Aliyu Maitasamu-Isah, President, National Onion Producers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (NOPPMAN) commended NEPC for the efforts that would surely boost onion production.

Maitasamu-Isa called for increased production of onions so as to plug the deficit of 1.1 million tonnes in local demand in the country.

He said that the 1.4 million metric tonnes of onions currently being produced in the country annually was not enough to meet the demands of Nigerians, hence the call for increased production to meet the 2.5 metric tonnes required for local consumption.

The president, however, said that more government support would be needed to achieve the target and to enable the massive exportation of the commodity to countries like India, which he said, had high demand for it.

“The challenges we are facing is as a result of lack of good storage facilities, among other challenges. If the government can intervene to assist farmers to access inputs and facilities for production, while also helping them to improve on their storage facilities, then we can be able to meet the demands.

“We are producing 1.4 metric tonnes, but what we need is 2.5 metric tonnes. Apart from that, we are still exporting. So, we need support and empowerment from the government because we need to step up our production to meet the demands,” he said.

The Sokoto State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Alhaji Bashir Gidado, who was represented by the Director of Commerce, Alhaji Sani Hamidu, promised state government collaboration and support to the onion production and others.

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