About sixty (60) Shea butter farmers, have been trained by Kwara state coordinating office of Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) on global standard and processing techniques.
Speaking at the one-day seminar, themed, Operation Double Your Export, the NEPC state coordinator, Hajiya Sherifat Musa, said that the training was a component of a design to double non-oil export for more foreign exchange for Nigeria economy.
According to her, the programme was also aimed at improving product acceptability records both nationally and internationally.
Hajiya Musa noted that the state is one of the highest producers of quality Shea in Nigeria.
In his lecture , a resource person, Mr. Peter Popoola of the Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI), Kwara state, said Shea nuts cultivation is a highly lucrative business.
He said there are new and modern species of Shea trees that produce value chain products much quicker than the old Shea trees.
Earlier in an address, shortly before
declaring the seminar open, Kwara state commissioner for Business Innovation and Technology, Mrs. Damilola Adelodun, who was represented by a director in the ministry, Alhaji Sanni Ibrahim, said that the capacity building training on Shea butter production global is the best practice, worthwhile in view of the low-level technological adoption, “which is adversely affecting Shea processors.
She maintained that the state government will collaborate with other stakeholders to promote rural farmers and value-chain members who have shown sufficient commitment to upscale their production.
ALI MUHAMMAD RABIU
