The federal government and the Centre for Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI) has launched the shea export development project targeted at improving export of the product to African countries and other continents.
Speaking in Abuja yesterday during the launch, the executive director of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Dr Ezra Yakusak, said the project is part of efforts at consolidating the potential and opportunities of the shea sector in Nigeria to facilitate export growth.
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“The current effort is to see that at the end of the year, Nigeria earns at least 40 per cent higher than what it is currently earning from Shea butter,” he said.
Nigeria and CBI had partnerships on the Export Market Development Programme for SME exporters in cocoa, cashew and sesame; and also an on-going Nigeria Sustainability Ginger Programme (2021–2025) for developing the ginger value chain for the export market.
“This project will focus on critical stakeholders that will contribute to making a paradigm shift from the export of raw unprocessed shea nuts to higher value-added shea products,” he said.
Manager of CBI, Dorianne Wegen, said the organisation chose Nigeria due to the huge prospects of the product in international markets.
She said, “Nigeria has everything it takes to grow this sector, but we understand that adding value across the value chain is critical to the export of shea which is why we are partnering with the NEPC to ensure that critical stakeholders are carried along to boost exports in the global market.”