Nigeria’s leading construction giant, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, has made a bold diversification of its investment portfolio into cashew processing, in the agricultural sector of the nation’s economy.
The company said yesterday, that its internationally-bench marked and top quality-driven Cashew processing plant, in Epe, Lagos, which would soon be commissioned, would implement a highly efficient no-waste operational practice.
Currently, Nigeria is one of the largest producers of cashew but processes only about 5% of its production locally.
The nation’s inability to process much of its raw cashew nuts has deprived her of a good share of the over $6 billion global cashew trade.
Julius Berger’s Cashew Project’s Commodity and Marketing Manager, Oyindamola Asaaju, was quoted in a statement, yesterday, as saying, “Clear national occupational standard and demand-driven international product quality would define and drive the company’s operations.”
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Delegation der Deutschen Wirtschaft in Nigeria (Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Nigeria), have commenced a partnership to raise Nigeria’s processing capacity.
A recent Cashew Roundtable organized through the partnership canvassed the benefits of bringing together stakeholders across the entire cashew value chain, matching producers with potential off-takers, promoting investments in the cashew sector, identifying skill gaps in the cashew value chain, and introducing innovative training delivery and competency based training approaches.
Nigeria has an untapped potential of exports of cashew kernels to the EU, Japan, Canada, and UAE, among others.
The Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Nigeria has been organizing Dual Vocational Training Conferences focusing on agriculture and other topical necessaries since 2019.
Source: Vanguard
