Business
RMRDC, Oyo Farmers Collaborate In Sugar Production
The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) in Oyo State is set to collaborate with the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) toward boosting sugarcane production.
AFAN’s State Chairman, Mr Emmanuel Elegbede, told newsmen in Ibadan on Friday that in an effort to achieve the objective, the association and RMRDC would hold a workshop for sugarcane farmers and other stakeholders on May 11.
He said that the workshop would focus on how the nation could achieve self-sufficiency in sugar production through aggressive cultivation of sugarcane.
Elegbede said that an alternative to starchy sugar had been identified in Nigeria, in the form of “Thaumatoccus Danielli’’, which, according to him, contains protein and good for diabetic patients.
He said that the alternative had been found in the fruit of a local leaf known as “ewe eeran’’ in Yoruba.
“It has been discovered that this sweetener which contains protein is 500 times sweeter than sugar obtained from sugarcane,’’ Elegbede said.
The AFAN chairman said that among the benefits to be derived in the massive cultivation of sugarcane included meeting the national sugar requirements and a massive boost in foreign exchange earning.
“Diabetics in the advanced countries will surely go for the protein sugar from Nigeria because it will give them relief and as such, the demand for it will be very high in the international market,’’ Elegbede said.
He, however, observed that Nigeria imported about 95 per cent of its sugar requirements in spite of the fact that the country was blessed with vast land resources and a climate suitable for sugarcane production.