Nigeria to export yams to Europe in June 2017 – Ogbeh

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, has said that arrangements had been concluded for the first container of yams to leave the shores of Nigeria for the European continent on the 29th of June this year.He made this disclosure in chat with newsmen on the achievements of his Ministry since the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government took over power two years ago.Ogbeh stated that, within the next two years, Nigeria’s agricultural sector will regain its lost glory at the world stage as a major food producer and exporter.He noted that vegetables, beans, cowpeas and coshes would, in another two years, join the list of exported items to Vietnam.Ogbeh seized the opportunity to appreciate all heeded the call of the president by keying into Agriculture as the next big thing, adding that without their support so far, the strides recorded would not have been.“In another two years, we will be back on the world stage where every country had recognized and expected Nigeria to live up to the name ”“ Major Food Producer.“On the 29th of June this year, the first container of yams will be leaving the shores of Nigeria for UK.“Yes, we have been dealing with vegetables and a lot of other produce already and we will continue to be selling pulses mainly beans and cowpeas to India.“We will soon be back exporting cocoa again on a large scale, although we are exporting very little now; and cashew nuts to Vietnam which we intend to start processing here very soon.“The processed cashew nuts will be exported to Wal-Mart and other major supermarkets across the globe.“We are on our way. It is just about time.“The beautiful thing is that Nigerians make me proud. In spite of the trauma they have been through, their response to the call by the President to return to agriculture has been absolutely successful ”“ Young and old, civil servants, military men, journalists, everybody is on his way back to agriculture.“We only have the challenge, now, of giving them what they need, and we will definitely meet that challenge,” the Minister said.On the exportation of processed food as against raw farm produce, Ogbeh noted that Nigeria had all it takes to effectively play in the international processed food market, stressing that most of what Nigerians ate were already processed foods.He however said that procurement of machineries, stable electricity, and sudden drop in the value of Naira are some of the challenges that need to be surmounted before the country can play effectively in the processed food market globally?“We have to process what we grow. There are very few things we eat raw especially vegetables and fruits. But rice, sugar, milk, sorghum, millet, cassava ”“ among those items; we are almost there.“Nigerians may find that difficult to accept now because the prices are so high and that can be explained by the sudden drop in the value of the Naira. Machineries need to be procured. We need to stabilize electricity otherwise the cost of production and processing gets too high.“Otherwise, there is no question whether Nigeria can or will get there. It is just a matter of time.“Unfortunately, for agriculture once a country slows down like we did for nearly 30 years, it becomes difficult to restart the engine.“But for Nigeria, the people are incredible and they are doing it. It took Brazil 30 years and India 50 years to be able to get to where they are now. It won’t take us that long,” he said.