A foreign investor and Managing Director of Helian company of Shenzhen, China, Fadred Ngbaso Daso has advocated the need for government to pay more attention to processing of agricultural produce for export as a way of creating more employments and earning more foreign exchange for the country.
Daso, who spoke in Abuja against the backdrop of the rising unemployment rate in Nigeria, said agricultural processing has the potential to generate employment for millions of Nigerian youths and also earn more foreign exchange for the country.
“When we add more value to the chain rather than exporting raw agricultural produce, it would create more jobs because more people would be needed in the processing line,” he said.
He noted that his company was already working in that direction as a way of creating more employments for Nigerians.
He said, “Currently, we have in our employment over 800 Nigerians; our plan is to expand into processing for export, what this means is that we would be engaging more Nigerian youths. We need to work with government to create more employments for our youths so that the social and economic problems facing the country can be addressed.”
He said that Nigeria has huge potentials in commodity processing for export especially in produce like cashew nut, sesame seed, ginger, groundnut, habiscus flower, Akasia seed and a host of others.
“The potentials are limitless and would be a major boost to the economy. Currently, we do between 1.5 to 2 billion naira in commodity exports on a monthly basis; we would definitely earn more if we process before exporting,” he said.
He noted that his company was currently expanding its warehouses in Kano, Kaduna Adamawa among others to take more of these commodities and boost the earning capacity of local farmers who are growing these cash crops.
