The recent interview with the Managing Director of Tak Integrated Agricultural Solutions Limited, Kabir Usman, statement that some nations have collected Nigeria’s unique ginger to experiment the adaptation in their countries brought to the fore the threat facing the nation’s ginger economy.
Nigeria ginger is the best in the world. In fact, in the international market, Nigerian ginger is rated as the best because of its pungency and high level of oleoresin oil, which is the active ingredient most people look for in the ginger industry.
However, the industry is unorganized, uncoordinated and threatened by a number of factors-something stakeholders in the industry plan to tackle next week in Kaduna, hub of ginger production. The meeting will be championed by Tak Integrated Agricultural Solutions and USAID, Nigeria.
Painting the picture of ginger business in Nigeria, Kabir Usman, who is an agribusiness expert and an actor in the ginger value chain business, stated that the reason why we do not have stability in ginger ecosystem is because there is no local market for ginger. He noted that most of the off-take for ginger is Oversees and that the very little used in local spices are the ones that were packaged in spice production and ginger drink. He said that does not consume a fraction of a per cent.
He said in the third quarter of last year, Nigeria exported over N290 million worth of ginger, adding, “if any commodity has that much export capacity, then it should be given such consideration and attention.”
Experts worried that there is so much use for ginger in other places around the world but very little use for it in Nigeria.
“Last year, ginger was sold for about N30, 000-N35, 000 per bag, this year ginger is selling for N9, 500 per bag. Now, imagine how people who bought it at N23, 000 -N25, 000 per bag will feel now it is selling for N9, 000. And they can’t sell it; it is not something you can mix with grain, blend it and eat it. That person outside who knows what he uses it for has not come in. When they come in the prices will go up, so if you farmed ginger with the intention of selling it at X price, you are already in a big mess.
“Ginger market is a seasonal market; when the demand comes; it comes with the people buying. When the international buyers make their order, the agents or representatives will come to Nigeria and order based on the demand. Every day, there is a running battle between availability and supply. The economy of farmers is under threat in so many ways. First, the consumption of ginger locally is poor, also other nations are now coming into it”, he said.
He said Nigeria needs an organized system where production will be done through specific demand.
“If we can stimulate demand for investment in local off-take, if we say Kaduna has a processing factory -which they want to sell and someone buys this factory and processes ginger instead of exporting raw dried ginger, we will now be able to process fresh ginger, grinded ginger, ginger oil among others and that will increase the benefit derived, increase quality and also ensure that farmers can sell on a regular basis,” Mallam Usman said.
Dr Vincent Isegbe, the Coordinating Director, Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Services (NAQS) maintained that Nigerian ginger has a unique taste and that actors in the industries will reap more benefits if they organize themselves and observe the international standard required in cultivation and packaging.
Dr Isegbe noted that a huge market for the product exist in Asia and Europe.
But at the moment, too many incidents that can disrupt the market have affected the ginger business in the country-something the stakeholders meeting in Kaduna next week will thrash.
Ginger takes between seven to nine months to mature and it is harvested during the dry season. However, mechanization has remained a huge challenge because virtually everything is done manually. Many farmers do not have access to improved varieties or are not even aware of available varieties and where to get them.
Dr Eddy Nwaogu, a ginger researcher with the National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike Nyanya Station, said that apart from the yellow and black ginger which the institute developed some years back, the institute was able to import, using approved government institutions and agencies, five additional ginger varieties from Brazil, India and West Indies.
These varieties are; Himachel pradesh, Rio de Janeiro, Wynad Local, Maran and St Vincent.
He said, “research activities are on-going to characterize these varieties to evaluate their ecological adaptation, yield potentials and chemical compositions and to determine their ability to adapt to our local soils and environments. At the end of the characterization, these five varieties will then be released to farmers, following due process. When this is done, the genetic base of the crop will certainly be improved and farmers will then have a wider number of varieties to choose from,” he stated.
Ginger farmers hope the Kaduna ginger summit will be able to resolve some of the daunting challenges that confronted them in the past, where after massive cultivation; there was no market anywhere to sell, leaving many of them who had invested huge sums of money in pains.
The summit is expected to also come up with strong and virile recommendations that will assist government to formulate a policy that will reposition the industry.
