The Kolanut and Bitter Kola Marketers and Exporters Association of Nigeria, has called on the Federal Government to support modern processing of the nuts to boost production.

The President of the association, Mr Adebayo Babadara, told newsmen in Abuja recently that Nigeria produced about 80 per cent of the kola nuts in the world.

Babadara said that if this high quantity of kola nuts were processed with modern technologies, it would boost the country’s foreign exchange and also reduce importation of caffeine.

He urged the Federal Government to give support in the area of credit facilitate to farmers, marketers and processors, to enable states and local governments earn income from the production of kola nuts.

“It is estimated that Nigeria produces about 127,500 tonnes of kola nuts annually. This represents about 80 per cent of the world’s production.

“We need government to develop locally made equipment and machinery that will be able to process the real potentials that are in kola nuts like caffeine,’’ Babadara said.

He said that the association needed fabricated machines to be able to produce products like kola wine, kola chocolate and many more.

Babadara also explained that kola is a tropic tree crop and had two main species, which were of economic importance namely Cola nitida and Cola acuminate.

The president said that the crop was used by Nigerians for industrial, pharmaceutical and food preparations because of its physiological and pharmacological property.

He further explained that bitter kola was a product that had the power to purify, detoxify and stimulate the liver, adding that it also helps to ameliorate severe cough.

Babadara also said that the waste product of kola-nut could be used to produce organic fertiliser, animal feed, kola liquid detergent, among others.