Nigeria's agricultural sector, though a vast source of foreign exchange, remains underexploited due to a lack of government commitment. The country has the potential to significantly enhance the value of the naira and achieve trade balance by exporting more farm produce, yet it is yet to fully leverage its fertile soil.
Despite being the world's leading cassava producer, Nigeria has not yet dominated the cassava export market. Similarly, it has the potential to become the highest cocoa producer worldwide, but lacks plans to encourage increased cocoa production. Furthermore, although Nigeria could produce the largest volume of palm oil globally, it currently imports palm oil for domestic use.
Nigeria's main issue is its failure to formulate implementable policies to boost agricultural exports, as it remains preoccupied with oil and gas. This viewpoint was shared by stakeholders at the recent unveiling of a N1 billion Export Processing and Packaging Centre by the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Plc. This facility is expected to modernize the packaging of perishables to international standards and expedite the freighting of goods to global markets.
An additional hindrance to Nigeria's agricultural export is traceability. Global markets require knowledge of the farm's origin and the methods used in crop production. NAHCO's new processing centre addresses this by providing the origin of the farm produce from its facility.
Source: www.thisdaylive.com