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| Nigeria: Federal Government laments low export of fruits | | | | 2009-10-14 9:20:22 | | | The federal government has lamented that Nigeria being the seventh largest producer of horticultural fruits only contributes less than five per cent to the demands of processing and packaging industries.
Minister of agriculture and water resources, Dr. Abba Sayyadi Ruma stated this yesterday during the 27th annual conference of the Horticultural Society of Nigeria (HORTISON) held at Royal Tropicana Hotel, Kano.
The minister, who was represented by an assistant director of the ministry, Mr. Kanu Michael, noted that due to these problems Nigeria’s fruit industry imported over 28,000 metric tonnes of fruit-juice concentrated worth over $1 billion between 2006 and 2007.
"Our production capacity remains very low and not enough to meet the demand of processing and packaging industries. It should be noted that due to unavailability of fresh fruits, Nigeria’s fruit industry imported over 28,000 metric tonnes of fruit-juice worth $1billion between 2006 and 2007," the minister explained.
Dr. Ruma maintained: "Food security is high on the agenda of this administration. Access to credit and production imputs such as seeds and other planting materials, fertilizers and tractors rehabilitation and expansion of irrigation facilities and establishment of condition and processing centres are some of the measures put in place to enhance food security in the country."
He pointed out that for Nigeria to attain a certain level of industrialization by 2020 there must be a major shift from the current subsistence production agriculture to modernized agriculture, production storage, processing and marketing.
Dr. Ruma expressed the hope that, the conference would work towards proffering solutions to the problems of food security through sustainable development of the horticultural industry to alleviate the living standard of Nigerians as well as earn more foreign exchange for the country.
In his speech, Kano state governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau represented by his deputy, Engr. Abdullahi Tijjani Muhammad Gwarzo, challenged the Horticultural Society of Nigeria (HORTSON) to explore arable land in the country in order to sustain the national food security.
The governor pointed out that insecurity of imported planning materials in the country pose a serious set-back in both vegetable and fruit-juice industry in the country.
He then called on the participants to explore new methods of tilling vast arable land of the country towards addressing the problem of hunger in Nigeria.
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