The Kogi Government, Northcentral Nigeria says it has taken proactive measures to curtail glut in cashew supplies and enhance its prices in 2019 to avert a recurrence of the current price crash.
Mr Emmanuel Idenyi, the Permanent Secretary of Kogi Ministry of Agriculture, said this on Thursday in Lokoja at the State Partnership for Agriculture (SPA) Core Delivery Team (CDT) meeting, organised by Synergos Nigeria.
He said that the state government’s decision to intervene in cashew production processes was due to the crash in the price of cashew products, which led to low sales in the current production year.
“We are going to tackle the issue of product adulteration head-on; we shall also forestall the migration of merchants in cashew products to other countries.
“Our state cannot afford to be blacklisted for failing to meet international standards,’’ he said.
Idenyi said that there was information on the influx of adulterated cashew nuts into Kogi from Nasarawa State, adding that although the ministry was not promptly informed about the development, the state government would resist the trend.
“In order for the state not to lose the status of producing the best cashew in Nigeria, by next year, we shall have labelled bags or sacks for our cashew produce and in the process, block produce from other states,” he said.
Besides, the commissioner said that over five hectares of land had been cleared in Lokoja for the cultivation of maize to boost the government’s school feeding programme, adding that the project would be replicated in other parts of the state.
In his remark, Mr Jeremiah Onugba, the Director of Agricultural Services in the ministry, warned that buyers who indulged in buying any grade of cashew nuts for merchants would be blacklisted, adding that such persons were not after quality but quantity.
Mr Oyekunle Agbana, the State Director of Produce, said that over 78,000 tonnes of cashew nuts were graded in the state this year, as against the 65,000 tonnes that were graded in 2017.
He noted that the quantity of the graded cashew nuts was more than half of what was produced this year, adding that not less than 40 per cent of this year’s produce were still warehoused by the farmers.
Agbana said that the poor quality of some cashew nuts could be attributed to the fact that some farmers engaged in “hasty harvesting, instead of hand-picking mature fruits and nuts that fell to the ground’’.
Mr Thomas Agene, the Secretary of CDT, said that pragmatic efforts should be made to sensitise cashew farmers the need to go after quality rather than quantity. (NAN)
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