Benue State will begin the processing, marketing and
packaging of yam for export in June this year, the Nigerian Export Promotion
Council (NEPC), said in Makurdi, on Thursday.
Head of NEPC Export Assistance Office in Benue State,
Emmanuel Etim, disclosed this during a two-day stakeholders training and
awareness for Nigerian Yam Export Programme.
The theme of the forum is “Developing Nigerian Yam for
Export.”
He said that the Minister of Agriculture and Natural
Resources, Chief Audu Ogbeh, would inaugurate the first batch of packaged
Nigerian yam for export at Lagos port on June 26.
Etim said the programme was aimed at placing Nigeria as a
key player in global market through strategic yam export development
programmes.
According to him, the programme is also committed to creating
adequate export awareness of the potentials of Nigeria yam.
Etim said the NEPC would transform Nigeria’s yam production,
processing, packaging and warehousing to meet international standards, drawing
from other countries’ yam export experiences.
In his speech, the minister said yam production in Benue
could generate huge foreign exchange earnings if properly harnessed through
aggressive export.
It could also create employment opportunities, generate
global esteem and grow the nation’s GDP, Ogbeh said.
According to him, aggressive national yam export development
programme could help revamp the nation’s economy from its current recession.
The stakeholders at the forum undertook study tour of yam
production centres in Benue.
Highlights of the forum included technical sessions on yam
flour and yam chips processing and marketing, prospect and marketing standard
requirements and take-off perspectives. (NAN)
This post was first published on The SUN
