By Correspondent in Ilorin
The Executive Director, the Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI), Ilorin,Kwara state,Dr. Olufemi Oladunni,has called on agriculture producers in the country to go into export business to reduce poverty level.
[contact-form][contact-field label=”Name” type=”name” required=”true” /][contact-field label=”Email” type=”email” required=”true” /][contact-field label=”Website” type=”url” /][contact-field label=”Message” type=”textarea” /][/contact-form]
He made the call on Tuesday in Ilorin during the opening ceremony of a five-day training workshop for 50 agricultural produce exporters at the ARMTI headquarters, Jimba Oja, Ilorin.
The correspondent of The Reporters reports that participants are scheduled to receive training on value creation in the area of agricultural produce exportation and effective human capital development among other topics.
The executive director said:”We are trying to create business opportunities for youths,to let them know that they can engage in export business of agricultural produce that people tend to overlook.
“As common as waterleaf that grows in raining season is, it can be exported and people are making thousands of pounds from such activity.
“There is no item of agriculture in Nigeria that is not exportable. For instance agbalumo (Cherry), Fufu, and all other variety of vegetables are being exported.
“I know people who,on weekly basis, make at least, £30,000. You can see what it translates to if someone can make even £10,000 weekly in Nigeria.
“The whole essence is to reduce poverty, to generate new grade of employment through the agricultural value chain at every spot of agricultural value chain: producing, harvesting, processing, and storage.
There are millions of employment that we are not tapping from the value chain.
” For instance, transporters and those who have warehouses will fit into it, because the products must stay somewhere before they go out.
“These are the things we are trying to create, so that we can generate a lot of employment, increase income of peoeple as well reduce poverty so that people can have access to a better standard of living.
“Through agriculture, they can become whatever they want to become in life and then we are encouraging them by teaching them how to do it, because everything has standard.
“We have brought in experts from Nigeria Export Promotion Council, Shippers Council and Quarantine services who will tell them the features so that their products will not be banned from entering international markets.
The Head and trade promotion advisor, Kwara state office of the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Akinwunmi Ajayi James, enjoined young Nigerians to go into export business, saying that with the drop in demand for oil in international business, there was the need to embrace non-oil export trade.
He said such effort would enable the people to earn foreign exchange, expand job opportunities and reduce poverty level in the country.
The NEPC man, who advised Kwara state government to develop exportation of agricultural products, especially cashew and help cashew producers, said that it could make the state government less dependent on federal allocation and reduce people from poverty level.
