farmers |
Nigeria's effort to
diversify the economy appears to be yielding results with increased
revenue from cashew nuts and other agriculture products' export.
The Minister of
Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, during a presentation on
Thursday at the National Economic Council meeting said that the
country's agriculture exports in the second quarter of the year were
largely driven by the export of cashew nuts which he said was worth
N13.5 billion.
Mr. Ogbeh was
briefing the NEC on Nigeria's "Strategic Export Initiatives" which is a
framework and action plan to grow and diversify the export of
agro-products.
The NEC meeting
which is chaired by the country's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has all
the state governors, including the Minister of the Federal Capital
Territory, and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, as members.
Nigeria has been
under pressure to diversify its economy because of the crash in oil
price. Also, the world is increasingly turning away from oil.
The N13.5 billion
earnings from cashew nuts, according to the minister, represents 45.4
per cent of the total agriculture exports and 1.37 per cent of the
country's total exports for the quarter.
Cashew nuts export
to Vietnam was N12.16 billion, the biggest so far, while India and
Kazakhstan were N1.4 billion and N6.34 million respectively.
Mr. Ogbeh informed
the council that sesame seed exports in the second quarter was N7.0
billion, representing 23 per cent of the total agriculture exports.
The major export
destinations for sesame seed were Japan, N1.3 billion; India, N0.9
billion; Turkey, N0.9 billion; South Korea, N0.8 billion; and China,
N0.6 billion.
Frozen shrimps and prawns' export was N1.6 billion, representing 9.6 per cent of the total agriculture exports.
The major export
destinations were Netherlands, N1.5 billion; Belgium, N0.67 billion;
United States, N0.22 billion; France, N0.17 billion; and Spain, N87
million.
Spain was a major
export destination for Nigeria's soya-bean flour and meals, for the
second quarter of the year; the export to Spain alone was worth N2.1
billion, the Minister, Mr. Ogbeh, said.
N116.6 million
worth of soya-bean flour and meal was exported to Ghana in West Africa,
while Senegal, Mauritania, and Germany were N72.9 million, N18.1 million
and N2.0 million respectively.
Other agricultural
exports within the second quarter are as follows: ginger, N663.7
million; flowers, N568.5 million; peanut kernels and other groundnuts,
N481.3 million; and milk and cream powder, N282.4million.
Mr. Ogbeh said the
total value of the trade in agricultural goods in the second quarter of
the year was N261.92 billion which is 4.60 per cent of the total trade
in the quarter.
He told the council
that agricultural exports had increased by 82 per cent in the first
quarter of 2017, while export earnings from agricultural goods stood at
N30 billion for the same period.
The discussions at the NEC meeting focused mainly on how the country could significantly improve and drive its non-oil export.
The Nigerian Export
Promotion Council made a presentation to the NEC on its "Zero Oil Plan"
- an ambitious plan to steer the nation's economy completely away from
oil.
"The 'Zero oil
Plan' aims at earning at least $30 billion from non-oil sources in the
near to medium term as against the current earnings of about $5
billion," the federal government said in the report of what transpired
at the NEC meeting.
"The objectives of
the 'Zero Oil Plan' is to add $150 billion to Nigeria foreign reserves
over the next 10 years, create 500,000 jobs, lift 10 million Nigerians
out of poverty and integrate each State of the Federation into the
export value chain.
"The focus of the
plan is on the export of the following crops -- Rice, Wheat, Corn, Palm
Oil, Rubber, Hides and Skin, Sugar, Soya beans and automotive parts
among others," the report said.
The Vice President,
Mr. Osinbajo, also constituted a National Committee on Export Promotion
to review the ideas and suggestions tabled before the council.
Five ministers, including the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, are members of the committee.
The committee also
has three governors - Jigawa, Lagos and Ebonyi States - as well as the
CBN, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and the Nigeria
Export-Import Bank, NEXIM, as members.
The committee is to
be chaired by the governor of Jigawa State and co-chaired by the
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelama.
The Minister of
Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma, in his presentation to the
council, said that the earlier projection was that the country would
exit recession by the third quarter of 2017, but that the exit came
three months earlier in the second quarter of the year.
Confidence was
gradually returning to the Nigerian economy, Mr. Udoma informed the
council, adding that the recovery was driven "largely by the growth in
agriculture, as well as manufacturing, crude oil and gas production,
solid minerals, financial services, and electric supply."
Mr. Udoma, who said
that unemployment and underemployment remained a challenge for the
economy, cautioned that the economy was still deemed vulnerable to
shocks. He said focused policy implementation was required to sustain
the recovery.
The Vice President, Mr. Osinbajo, was said to have expressed delight at the discussions in the meeting.
Mr. Osinbajo
assured that the federal government would work together with the state
governments to promote non-oil exports in the country.
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