The Adamawa State Government has trained and empowered selected farmers to grow certain exportable crops.
The authorities see this as a significant move to raise economic activities and change Adamawa’s status from being a ‘civil service’ state to a diversified economy.
Aiming for an agro-economy that produces goods for not only the local economy but also for export, the government has trained and empowered 210 small-holder farmers and charged them with growing high-quality export crops that include Sesame, Hibiscus, Soybeans, Ginger, and Groundnuts
Speaking during the agro-for-export training, the state Commissioner of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Dr Ishaya Dabari, said the project, being implemented with technical support from the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), aims to empower farmers to venture into export activities to stimulate economic diversity.
Speaking at the Mubi axis of the training and explaining that the exercise is taking place simultaneously across the three senatorial zones of the state, the commissioner said, “We brought a strategy for people to obtain export certificates at no cost to 150 SMEs that will facilitate export of local products without challenges.
He added that knowing the limited financial capacity of the people, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri decided to pay for the fees of processing 150 certificates that are distributed.
The NEPC’s North-East Regional Coordinator, Mr Anani Egon who also spoke, said the aim of the project is to stimulate sustainable growth of the food export sector to strengthen the capacity of farmers.
Mr Egon explained, “The project is under the broader framework of States Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER), a world bank assisted program to promote sustainable economic diversification by strengthening the non-oil export sector.”
