Post by Trade Coach on Jun 13, 2019 23:15:16 GMT 1
Nigeria is blessed with good agricultural weather and crops. Nigeria has an advantage because fruits and vegetables can be grown on a wide range of vegetations, from small farms with less than two hectares using family labour to large-scale commercial farms with over 100 hectares and advanced technology.
Therefore, ensuring food security, boosting productivity, fostering competitiveness and making sure that small-scale farmers have greater access to markets should be the key to the government in utilising our full agricultural potential.
It is high time we started developing the natural potential to support cultivation of exportable vegetables and fruits, including other cash crops, to the global markets to generate income to support and boost the country's economy.
Agriculture can be the country's bail out from poverty and recession if the industry is well harnessed, as the era of oil boom has gone. Huge sum, up to N12 billion can be realised from exporting vegetables and this is projected to rise to N45 billion by 2019 if government at various levels give farmers the right incentives.
According to official data in 2013, the country’s exports were worth $46.32 billion, of which $3.83 billion came from vegetables and fruits to Europe and America. That's quite impressive! Farmers should be encouraged to grow the produce that are exportable and be provided with inputs to grow the produce.
Investors and private sectors should also invest in the agricultural industry especially in the area of exportation. This is because the demands for agricultural produce are huge overseas as millions of Africans and Nigerians are demanding these produce everyday which in turn yields high profits for the investors.
Apart from vegetables and fruits, other produce like fried fish, beans, yam and crayfish, among others can be exported. Vegetables can be grown successfully in Kano, Kaduna, Kogi, Lagos, Ondo, Ogun and Benue among others.
Vegetables comprise green pepper, carrot, lettuce and cucumber but there are six high premium indigenous vegetable species like local celery (woorowo), local amaranth (teteatetedaye), fluted pumpkin (ugu), African nightshade (odu), eggplant (igbagba) and scarlet eggplant (ogunmo). All these vegetables are planted here in Nigeria and are all good for export if farmers adopt international standard.
There is export potential for agricultural produce in Nigeria, this area of investment should be focused on instead of staying idle or seeking white collar jobs which usually won't earn you as much income as you will get in agriculture.
It may not be everybody that will grow vegetable but you can be a successful produce exporter. Individuals are therefore, urged to seek knowledge on how to go about the export business by attending seminars and workshops to equip themselves with the adequate training required.
On the documents that vegetable farmers and exporters need to obtain in order to ensure that their produce meet international standard and how to link with buyers overseas and take up all the terms, contact us.