The federal government say it is targeting N25 billion annual revenue and 500,000 jobs from castor and cashew production.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Abdulkadir Mu’azu, made this known at a two-day National Castor/cashew Stakeholders’ meeting and Farmers’ Field Day at the Ahmadu Bello University’s Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Zaria, at the weekend.
He said the federal government plans to achieve the target between 2021 and 2024.
Represented by Mr. Bernard Chukwuemeka, Deputy Director, Federal Department of Agriculture, Mu’azu said the ministry has resolved to raise the productivity of castor through the castor value chain.
Professor Mohammed Ishiyaku, Director of the IAR, said the institute was conducting research on 50 different varieties of castor and “14 different lines are promising”.
He said by 2021, the institute would unveil three different varieties of castor.
