It is
a cash crop with wide varieties in Africa. It is one of the oldest oilseed
crops, with one of the highest oil contents of any seed. With a rich, nutty
flavour, it is a common ingredient in cuisines across the world.
Based
on its colour, it is classified into the white and brown varieties. The white
grain (Food Grade) is used by bakeries for pastry garnishing and salad, while
the brown grain, often referred to as the oil grade, is used in the production
of sesame oil.
Have you heard
this? Many Nigerian exporters have been defrauded of huge amount of money in
the process of exporting commodities to foreign countries. Do you know why?
They were not trained on export operations, management, documentations and the
best methods of payment in export trade. This is terrible!!! Nigerians cannot
continue to lose money to foreigners in the course of export business.
Exporters, why don’t you get a practical manual that teaches the stages of
export trade from processing and packaging of commodities to receipt of payment
by the foreign buyers. It teaches export operations, export management, export
documentations and methods of payment in export trade? It is a contemporary
step-by-step guide to export trade. It tells all the contemporary dynamics in
export trade. To get it, click on the link below:
The
commodity is cultivated in 24 countries in the continent-Sudan, Guinea,
Morocco, Togo, Gambia, Cameroon, Cote d’ivoire, Angola, Senegal, Sierra Leone,
Ethiopia, Benin, Kenya, Mozambique, Mali, Chad, Egypt, Central Africa Republic,
Somalia, Burkina Faso, Niger, Uganda and Nigeria.
Nigeria
is the second largest producer in Africa after Sudan, and the third largest in the world, with about 580,000
tonnes produced in 2017. In the first quarter of 2018, it was the most exported
non-oil commodity, contributing 0.57 per cent to the total export value and
36.39 per cent of agricultural exports. http://www.tectono-business.com/2016/02/contemporary-step-by-step-guide-to.html
The
recent merchandise trade intensity index analysis released by Nigerian Bureau
of Statistics (NBS) in 2016, shows that sesame seeds worth N6.46b was exported
during the period, representing 39.4 per cent of agricultural exports between
October and November 2016.Sesame presents huge opportunities for the country in
terms of generating export revenue. Aside the fact that it has numerous health
and industrial benefits and widely used for baking, medicine, cosmetics and
animal feeds, it also has high oil content of about 44–60 per cent.
The
National President, Association of Sesame Farmers of Nigeria, Mutairu Mamudu, confirmed to us that
the commodity has higher financial benefits.
It is cultivated majorly in the northern part of the country, in states
like Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina,
Kebbi, Kogi, Nassarawa, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Abuja. Jigawa
is considered the highest area of production, followed by Benue.
We
learnt from stakeholders that considering its health benefits and the growing
preference for organic foods, the demand is likely to continue to grow, which
is positive for Nigeria. http://www.tectono-business.com/2016/02/contemporary-step-by-step-guide-to.html Reports have it that the
global demand for the commodity is expected to grow at 4.2 per cent compound
annual growth rate between 2018-2024, which Nigeria is expected to key-into,
considering its land mass, coupled with the fact that sesame is also
drought-resistant and requires little or no fertilizer, which makes it cheaper
to cultivate.
It was
gathered that for the country to take advantage of these opportunities, enhance
its competitiveness and maximize the potentials, it needs to focus on improving
processing and yields. http://www.tectono-business.com/2016/02/contemporary-step-by-step-guide-to.html Processing, we learnt has
being a major challenge confronting the sesame seed industry in the country, as
90 per cent of the produce is taken outside for processing. Mamudu, who
identifies colonial mentality and finance as hindrance to availability of
processing plants, said government is also not helping the farmers, as there
are no incentives to boost their ego.
“From the beginning, there is colonial mentality, they want our raw
materials and after the processing abroad, they’ll return it at exorbitant
price and that is what they do to most of the agricultural produce from
Africa,” Mamudu
said. He said: “The second thing is finance and
technical-know how. To establish sesame oil company is a capital-intensive
project and the process of obtaining loan from banks will always discourage
one. We don’t have the system where you’ll submit the feasibility study of your
project and get approval within the shortest time.
“Another thing is that awareness on the consumption of sesame oil is
still very low. It has more benefits than vegetable oil, but people don’t know
this. Those who are actually consuming this oil are outside Nigeria and you
know they will always hide their technology; they have not given us the right
technology. Even if we are processing it here, they’ll say the ones processed
in Africa is not produced under conducive environment.”
Mamudu
stressed that another major challenge is the fact that the commodity is still
cultivated at the peasantry level. http://www.tectono-business.com/2016/02/contemporary-step-by-step-guide-to.html He said, “While the number of sesame farmers are increasing based on
the fact that the crop has a higher financial benefits, like a 100kg being sold
for N40, 000 is seen as the motivating factor encouraging more farmers into the
business, there is no standard incentive from the government. Although we are
still pushing on, maybe on the long run, they’ll give us the necessary
backing.”
Fellow Nigerians, are you aware that our crude oil will soon become
useless? Yes, it will, in no distant time, become valueless owing to the fact
that the countries that rely on it as their only source of energy are
developing more affordable alternative sources of energy. When this finally
happens, what will we do? How are we currently preparing for this imminent
economic doom? Which other sector will continue to stabilize our economy?
Nigerians, the only solution is developing the agricultural sector. In fact,
this is the only solution. Very soon, the major source of revenue will become
agriculture and agro-exports. How are you positioning yourself to play big in
agro-export business? Why don’t you get a practical manual that explains the
stages of export trade from processing and packaging of commodities to receipt
of payment by the foreign buyers? Yes, arm yourself with the contemporary
trends in export trade. This manual explains export operations, export
management, export documentations and methods of payment in export trade? Yes,
it is a contemporary step-by-step guide to export trade. It tells all the
contemporary dynamics in export trade. To get it, click on the link below:
Executive
Director, National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS),
Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Prof.
Mohammed Khalid Othman said factors hindering processing of the cash crop
are-lack of appropriate infrastructure in terms of processing equipment and
facilities; and non-availability of steady power and high cost of alternative
(private) power supply. “In Nigeria, sesame has
remained a popular cash crop among farmers due to its good local and
international market potentials. A pilot project undertaken jointly by the
National Sesame Seeds Association and the First Bank of Nigeria in 2007 to
increase sesame production and utilisation for economic empowerment in the
northern states revealed that sesame seeds farming can provide one million jobs
and earn $1.5b for the northern states, thereby empowering the people of the
region economically.
“With the right investment in processing plants, the earning will be
a minimum of 300 per cent of the $1.5b from production. Additionally, there
will be direct employment generation, rural development, enhanced rural income
and improved livelihoods of farming households. “This will be a far departure
from the national earning of $798.05m from sesame seeds in 2012. The processing
plants will supply oil for the food and drug manufacturing industries and cake
for livestock and poultry industry. Other forms, such as raw seeds, crushed
unrefined and refined oil could be supplied as desired,” Othman said.
A
farmer, Ahmadu Jameel, told us that:
“The focus in this country is growing the seed and
exporting, as there are few processing factories. One of the major challenges
facing the industry is lack of mechanized and modern farming techniques.
Small-scale farmers use outdated skills and have limited access to finance and
technology. This continues to inhibit local production.” We learnt that
based on this challenge, yield per hectare in Nigeria is 0.5–1.0 tonnes;
compared to 1.4–1.6 tonnes per hectare in china. http://www.tectono-business.com/2016/02/contemporary-step-by-step-guide-to.html
Jameel
stressed that the underperformance in yield is due to the knowledge gap and
poor crop management practices adopted by smallholder farmers, adding that poor
processing procedures are also affecting yields. “Based
on what we were told, we have only three functional processing plants for
sesame seeds, with the aggregate processing capacity of the three plants standing
at 300 tonnes, with each producing 100 tonnes. The poor number of functional
processing plants has affected the quality of the seeds, as most seeds are
processed manually. For a country that produces over 1,200 tonnes per day,
manual sorting and processing of these seeds is inefficient. It has also
affected the pricing,” he added.
He
noted that for the country to maximize its potentials, new processing plants
are needed to improve the quality of sesame seeds produced and processed in the
country, in order to meet international standards and help with better pricing.
(Guardian)
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