By Victoria Ojeme
Abuja – The Nigerian Export Promotion Council in collaboration with the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI) of the Netherlands is currently on a Market Orientation Mission (MOM) to the Netherlands and France to get foreign buyers for Nigeria’s burgeoning ginger farms.
About 17 Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs) in the ginger value chain are with the federal government delegation to these European markets.
NEPC’s Head of Corporate Communications, Ndubueze Okeke said the objective of the programme which is hinged on the Nigeria Sustainability Ginger Programme (NGSP 2021-2025) is to leverage on the potential of the commodity to get more value and diversify its market through sustainability, improved quality, certification, organic production and refined processing.
Data shows that Nigeria ranks 3rd in production of Ginger with 31 million metric tonnes, after India and China. The product is also in very high demand in the world market due to its natural and distinct features of pungency, aroma and oil content (oleoresin).
Despite its potential in ginger production, Nigeria accounts for a miserly 3% in the global export market share and it is the least priced due to quality issues caused by dearth of critical infrastructure and lack of cutting-edge technology for processing the commodity thereby resulting in poor market penetration.
According to the Executive Director/CEO of NEPC, Dr. Ezra Yakusak “It is for these reasons that the CBI is partnering with NEPC to enhance the quality of the commodity through capacity building and market access programmes as well as consideration for the establishment of a Common Facility Centre (CFC) in ginger production hubs in states where it is cultivated and produced for export in Nigeria.”
Activities of the mission will include practical workshops on export market access, visits to companies who are prospective buyers of Nigeria spices in Rotterdam and participation in Food Ingredients Europe (FIE) in Paris, France. (NAN)
