TOP SIX AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES WITH HUGE UNTAPPED POTENTIALS

■– Cocoa, Cashew nuts, Sesame, Ginger , Palm oil, Soybean.
■– Processing of these crops add & attract a premium for export value.- (contact wufasAgronet)

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As Nigeria grapples with current economic downturn leading to the Federal Government seeking for more borrowings to finance the budget as a result of massive crude oil theft , the consensus across board now is that there is no better time than now to leverage on the potentials of agricultural sector to create jobs, attain food security and place it on the path of sustainable growth and development .
THE one year conscription of sort for Nat’l Youth Service Corps — NYSC could be used to atuned the youthful graduates to serve in agropreneurial activities.
At WUFAS AGRONET, 6 agro- commodities with huge export potentials that investors can lacthed onto . for the abundance of the untapped potentials are: Cocoa, Cashew nuts, Soybean, Ginger, shae nuts, Sesame and plam oil.

COCOA
The stakeholders Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and others had expressed displeasure over the dwindling fortunes of Cocoa production in Nigeria. Available data from NEPC indicated that Ghana , IvoryCoast, and Nigeria could only boast of 1.7mmt, 800,000mt and 350,000mt respectively . Available records (Nigeria) have shown that Cocoa earning accounted for 20.8% of total non- oil-export for in 2015 and 20.13% in 2019.
Nigeria with 340000tonnes of exported superior quality Cocoa bean valued at #72 .59bn Naira tops the list of exportable agricultural produce in 2022.
From the Government’s perspective, NIRSAL provided #1.15bn Naira facilities to boost firm’s Cocoa export such as provision of Hybrid Cocoa seedlings to select farmers with the aim to achieving 500000tonnes by 2024.
Towards this, more of improved investment are sort in this lucrative Cocoa farming.
The traditional states of comparative advantage of Cocoa farming in Nigeria are : Ondo, Ekiti, Oyo, Ogun, Osun ,Edo, Akwa Ibom, Cross river, Benue , Delta etc.

CASHEW

A large percentage of Cashew nuts are being shipped to Asia, Europe and USA. Nigeria is a natural habitat for Cashew and is fourth largest producers and suppliers of the nuts in the world with 160000mt per annum.
The various value chains of Cashew are for eating industrial raw materials in firms producing chemicals, paints, varnishes ,insecticide and fungicides , electrical conductors and several types of oil. Information from Africa Cashew Alliance exported $ 300m in 2016 and $ 350m in 2017. Economic value of a ton raw cashew premium grade is $1250 while a ton of processed Cashew is about $11,000
Opportunities in processing as a value added activities which will in turn improve their earnings. Investors can explore the opportunities in processing by establishing on the-farm processing plants as value added activities which in turn improve their earnings.
Towards the enormity of the economic importance of Cashew PROCESSING a major stakeholder JULIUS BERGER established & commissioned Cashew Processing plant in Epe – lagos 2022
Area of comparative advantage for farming are : in entire S/West, SE, SS, Enugu , Kogi .
10.5billion Naira worth of shelled Cashew was exported in the first quarter of 2021 and 3.24bn Naira of unshelled Cashew.

SESAME SEEDS a small flat seed grown chiefly in the tropical and subtropical regions under hot and dry conditions its an annual plant that takes 90– 120 days to mature, the plant thrives best on well drained fertile soil of medium texture and neutral pH with little tolerance for salt. It has extensive system of feeder roots making it drought resistant and tolerant. In Nigeria, it grows across the Savanna / Guinea ecological zones warm season annual rainfed crop of semi tropics and subtropical.
Data from the National Bureau of statistics shows that Sesame was the most exported agricultural commodity in the first quarter of 2021 with 42 billion worth of crops exported and 3.4billion Naira worth of oil extracted from the crop. Exported mainly to Japan,China, Turkey and Europe.
Sesame Oil – the value chain attracts enormous economic and commercial importance. Morphologically it contains about 55% oil, 25% protein with substantial amount of carbohydrates and others. Of particular interest is the high quality oil obtain from Sesame which contains about 47% Oleic and 39% linoleic acid which exclude trans fat ( Unsaturated free fatty acids and Cholesterol ).

USES
Best in the production of margarine in many parts of the world where there is inadequate refrigeration . Other uses are in paints , Soap, Cosmetics, Perfumes, Bath oil, insecticide and pharmaceutical
Sesame has lots of potential with both commercial, medicinal and oil extraction. the oil is of very high value.free of transfat. and in high demand for pharmaceutical and industrial value chain for soap, shampoo,lubricant paints, cosmetics and vegetable oil.
Currently Nigeria is largest producer of seed in Africa and the 3rd largest in the world with about 480000tons produced in 2019 (FAO) Poor number of functional processing plant has affected the quality of the seeds ,as most seeds , as most seeds are produced manually and exported raw with poor pricing from international market. But with adequate processing and good quality the market can attract a premium price. Only three Processing plants exist in Nigeria , two in Kano and one in Lagos. Not enough.

GINGER
Demand for spices and Herbs is ever increasing globally especially in the Asian country of China and India the traditional EU supplers are themselves becoming importers because the domestic supply cannot meetup demand . Nigeria is among the top 5 nations that export ginger others are china,india Jamaica and SierraLeone while the major markets are EU UK, USA, Japan, Canada, and Asia.Data from Nigeria Ministry of Agric. and Rural Development put the demand at 65mmt while actual was put at 31mmt.
Quality challenges in accessing the major market the quality standards has to be met such as Conformity Accessment Std.(CAS) .traditional area of Comparative Advantage is Kaduna communities.

PALM OIL
Nigeria was the largest producer of Palm oil globally in the 60s.history had it that Malaysia cut her teeth in palm oil production from Nigeria but currently Indonesia and Malaysia combineed to export about 90% palm oil globally in 2017 while Netherlands came third Quata was 4th while Nigeria was distant 7th.
Palm oil sold for $1,070 / mt in May ’21. While Crude oil sold for $70/barrel at same period. (Int’l Commodity Mkt.)
1 metric tonne is equivalent of 7.33barrels
So, equivalent price of a metric tonne of crude oil is approximately $520.
In Nigeria , South East and South south is home of Palm oil even before Indonesia and Malaysia took over.
A State Governor in Nigeria has about almost 100% Palm oil production control and sales in his state.
So, why the complaint about raising IGR bar ?

SOYBEAN
Harnessing the nutritional and industrial benefits of Soybean is overdue, as Food, Edible oil, Fibre & Fuel.
Lack of massive ,commercial production and processing of Soybean is a critical agro– infrastructural deficit , considering the humongous economic advantage of the various value chain development.
In 2019/20 marketing year USA exported Soybean of about 45mmt ( USSOY) -just about Nigeria’s import of Wheat 47mmt annually. China imported 15mmt Soybean from USA. In 2019, Brazil exported about $32bn of Soybean –( Nigeria budget same period was $35bn). However, Brazil is economically stronger in Sugar and automobiles production.
Soybean’s area of comparative advantage is the Geninea Savanna ecological zone.( Benue trough) and the Rain forest Ecozone.

At WufasAgronet, we are Competent and Reliable Food Technologists into Human Capital Development Consultancy training the teeming youthful population Global Competitiveness & InternationalBest Practices. Enhancing the Ethics of Food processing and practical demonstration. Contact us : Wufasagronet@gmail.com