NEPC Restates Commitment To Agric Exports

In an attempt to actualise
the mandate given to it to promote export of agricultural products, The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), has stepped up measures towards that direction.
A trade promotion officer of NEPC, Mr. Andrew Okhinlu who spoke to The Tide at the on-going Port Harcourt International Trade Fair said the agency  was poised to encourage Nigerians  to produce and export agric products as to increase their  market share.
According  to him, agriculture presently makes up more than 70 to 80 per cent  of local exports.
He said manufactured products were about 30 per cent even as he said exporting agric products in their raw form was not helpful for the economy.
“We are encouraging  Nigerians to produce more because exporting product in raw form cannot  be economically viable” he said.
Okhinlu said cocoa products could be transformed into a number of finished products to boost  employment for the  Nigerian people.
“We can transform cocoa to cocoa butter, to cocoa cake, to cocoa oil as well as chocolate” he said.
He said cocoa alone had more than eight derivative.
Explaining further, he said palm produce has more than 10 to 12 product groups.
“Everything about palm produce is money so why will one export raw palm produce when they know they can generate lots of   derivation from those palm produce”, he said.
The promotion officer said most entrepreneurs export agric produce  but the agency was trying to do a paradigm shift.
He said this would enable exporters add value to agric products, this he said would stand the country out in the international market with the attendant recognition.
Explaining further, he said Nigeria has enough land  space even as he said the culture of Nigeria over the years has been hinged on agriculture.
He expressed the happiness that more Nigerians were into the export of finished agric products that were hitherto the exclusive reserve of nations like Togo, Ghana and Labanon.
“But Nigerians are getting into this business and it is generating quite an interesting output  for us” he said.