Stakeholder targets agricultural export to UK, Asia others

The Managing Director, Wal-Wanne Group, an agro-allied company, Dr Abiso Kabir has said in no distant time, the company is targeting to export Nigerian agricultural produce massively to the United Kingdom, US and Asia.

He said the company which has its offices in Lagos, Abuja and Borno state is committed to making Nigeria self-sufficient in food production through keying into the vision of the Government to diversifying the country’s economy from total reliance on oil earnings.

He said Wal-Wanne embraced the Federal Government’s Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) which was launched in Gongolum Local Government Area of the state by the Borno State governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima has flag-off of the commencement of the mass rice production by peasant farmers in the state.

“Today, we are proud stakeholder in showcasing the agricultural policy of the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration using the ABP as launch-pad, where participants are provided with farming implements, fertilizer, seedling, and insecticide at highly subsidized rates”

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“The company cultivates vast hectares of farmland across seven local government areas in the state; Jere, Mafa, Biu, Chibok, Konduga, Ganbuwa, and Monguno. Of course, the success of the ABP cannot be told without the measures of expertise injected into it in order to have better harvest, these are provided by Chad

Basin Development Authority and the Lake Chad Research Institute who have been providing extension officers for their professional guidance”

Dr Kabila said the farm has the capacity of accommodating over 13,000 farmers which means, a farmer is allocated to one hectare each. He said currently, about 705 farm owners listed to participate in the Anchor Borrowers Programme under the platform of Wal-Wanne and Sons Limited regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

He, however, harped on the need for government to support exporters through initiating policies that would enhance exportation, especially of agricultural produce.

“The major limitation associated with exporting products from Nigeria is lack of government support in almost the whole process. Therefore, we want the government to come up with some policy strategies to enhance exportation especially in the area of agricultural products.

“Our target in the next five years is to be one of the leading exporters in Nigeria and indeed in West Africa. We are targeting Asian, Middle East, and some European countries and America. In fact, we hope within five years, we want to reach the whole world with our goods from Nigeria”, he noted.